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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



THE WORDS OF FAITH. 



PROSE AND POETRY 



BY 



Wm. H. COLLINGS. 



"Being dead he yet speaketh" 



PRESS OF 

THE EXAMINER PRINTING CO., 

INDEPENDENCE, MO. 

1906. 



Z%1 



UBBARY of C0NGRE55J 
Two Copies Received 

OCT 12 1906 

Copyright Entry 
CUSS °~ XXc, No. 

copy r 



COPYRIGHT 1906 
BY A. J. COLLINGS 



PREFACE 



The writer's sole object, in presenting this book 
to the public, is to do good, by bringing Divine 
Truth in its unadulterated form prominently before 
the readers mind, in hope that the good seed, in some 
cases at least, will find a resting place well prepared 
to receive it, spring up and bring forth fruit to the 
glory of God. If this result is attained his utmost 
wish will be granted. But it is not because he sup- 
poses the subjects embraced in the writing are new 
to the people, for he is well aware none of them are: 
but because the pure light of Divine Truth, without 
any tincture of sectarianism is but too frequently 
concealed from the the mind of many professing 
Christians; or distorted, and discolored, by bigotry 
or prejudice, so as to pervert, or weaken its influence 
for good. It is with much fear, and trembling that 
the writer has made this attempt: and how far he 
has succeeded the result will show. 

W. H. COLLINGS. 

Eccles 11, C. and 1st and 6th verses. 



AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL. 



The author of this little work was born on the 
11th day of May 1821, near Bristol in England; and 
from his birth was subject to the influence of a 
genuine Christianity his parents being members 
of an evangelical Church under the direct influence 
of the Wesleys, and Whitfield. He came to this 
country when about 30 years of age with a wife and 
two little boys, settled at Dyersville, Dubuque 
county, Iowa. Moved to Dakota county, Nebraska, 
and from thence to Jackson county Missouri, about 
the end of the Civil War. 

W. H. COLLINGS, August 6, 1900. 



THE WORDS OF FAITH 



OUR LORD'S PRAYER IN VERSE 

Our Father in heaven above, 
Great fountain of eternal love: 
Hallowed be thy holy name, 
By saints and angels, both the same, 
Oh let thy holy kingdom come, 
And thy most righteous will be done; 
As angels do thy will above, 
We mortals should obey in love; 
As members of one family, 
Help us Father to obey thee. 
With daily bread our need supply, 
We do on Thee, for this rely. 
Forgive our sins, and let us live. 
As we our enemies forgive: 
And live in peace with them on earth, 
As children of thy Spirits birth. 
Into temptations lead us not, 
Lest we fall into satan's plot; 
From evil, Lord deliver us, 
For we in thy protection trust. 
The kingdom, and the power divine, 
And glory, be forever Thine. 

Nov. 21, 1903 



The Woeds of Faith. 
OUR WORKS CAN NOT SAVE US 

Jesus Christ demands our whole heart, 
And He will never take a part: 
He our redeeming work has done, 
Before our day on earth begun. 
Sorrow for sin is just, and right, 
Well pleasing in our Saviour's sight: 
But never can, for sin atone, 
For Jesus himself, saves alone. 
Repent, and all your sins forsake. 
By grace, through faith, salvation take: 
This is our work which must he done, 
Before we can to Jesus come, 
Yet if we partly in it trust, 
Our Lord's free grace, we from us thrust. 
If in our works we rest content, 
Our own salvation we prevent: 
And yet we must repentant be, 
Before we can salvation see. 
There's no salvation in good deeds, 
Man's righteousness, he vainly pleads: 
For his transgression of God's law. 
Which none have keptwithout a flaw. 
Our sin, and vileness, Lord we plead, 
Thou art indeed our friend in need. 
For our best works will not supply 
Our souls with joy after we die. 
But when in that bright world above, 
We taste of our Redeemer's love 
We shall see our good works in time, 
Recorded by the hand divine. 



Nov. 14, 1903 



THE INEVITABLE RESULT OF LIVING, AND 
DYING, WITHOUT CHRIST 



Death like an archer, staunch and true, 
That never missed a mark: 
At last will send his arrow through. 
The stubborn sinner's heart. 
And then that stubborn sinner dies, 
An angry God to meet: 
In vain he then laments, and sighs, 
His ruin is complete. 



The Wokds of Faith. 7 

Excluded from eternal life, 

In darkness and despair 

Withoutlone single ray of light, 

To cheer him anywhere: 

To realize the second death. 

Is what he must endure; 

And he of all good things bereft 

Because he is impure; 

The blood of Christthat purifies 

The human soul from sin: 

And the believer justifies, 

Who trusts alone in Him; 

On earth he slighted, and refused, 

Or put it off till death; 

And thus God's grace, he then refused. 

Until of life bereft, 

He has himself alone to blame, 

That he is suffering so: 

It's useless for him to complain, 

He's made his bed in woe. 

Nov. 21, 1903 



EVIL THOUGHTS 



As deadly germs of foul disease. 
Come floating on the gentle breeze: 
And on their entertainers feed, 
To satisfy their horrid greed: 
Implanting death, where'er they go, 
And filling man with mortal woe: 
So, sinful thoughts our minds assail, 
If we permit them to prevail; 
They will to words, and actions grow. 
And fill our souls with deadly woe. 
jAS downy seeds float through the air, 
To plant their nuisance anywhere 
That theyican find a place to rest, 
A quiet place will suit them best. 
So evil thougths. pass through the mind, 
And if they can a lodgment find, 
They will take root; spring up, bloom out, 
And scatter their vile seed about. 
Yes evil thoughts are passing by 
The human mind's perceiving eye. 
And if they can a lodgment find: 
They occupy that human mind 



The Words of Faith. 

With deadly germs of inbred sin, 

Which let the great deceiver in 

To fortify this citadel 

And then prepare the soul for hell. 

When these vile thoughts, our minds assail 

Unresisted, they will prevail; 

If they get rooted in the heart, 

How hard it is from them to part 

Like deadly germs of foul disease, 

Which seem to go just where they please, 

And on their entertainers feed 

To satisfy their awful greed. 

These thoughts to words and actions lead. 

And thus bloom out and bear the seed, 

Which satan's agents scatter round 

Where a neglected spot is found. 

Nov. 21, 1903 



ON THE WORD CHRISTIAN 

One of a nonsecterian Sect. 
An old time Baptist one day met: 
And bantered him, for a debate. 
On Christianity and fate. 
The nonesecterions assert, 
That they are the Christian Church. 
So they the name of Christian claim. 
And all the other names disdain; 
To this our Baptist friend obj ects, 
And the generic word protects, 
To which all Christians have a right, 
While walking in the Spirit's light. 
The ancient churches, numbering seven, 
Where Christians organized for Heaven: 
Yet neither one, set up her claim. 
To Christian for her churches name. 
The word Christian was left free, 
For all; no matter who they be, 
Or in what Church they may be found, 
In gospel faith, and pratise sound. 

ILLUSTRATION. 

If in a group upon the ground, 
Some useful factories were found 
All where alike externally, 
As any passer by might see. 



The Words of Faith. 



For motive power they all use steam, 

This was obvious to be seen; 

But only one assumed the name, 

Of The Steam Factoryof fame. 

The owners all were pleased to see, 

Steam written on their factory: 

This is factory number four, 

Steam is stampted upon it's tower, 

Upon it in large letters they. 

The words, Steam Factory, display, 

What would you think of such a sign, 

When you knew well that all the time: 

Steam was employed by all the rest, 

For motive power, as they thought best: 

What would you think, would it not be, 

The owners of this Factory, 

Can never possibly succeed; 

In fooling people by this deed. 

The Christian Church; some people write, 

Over their door, in open sight, 

To show they make a special claim: 

To the Generic Christian name. 

Now can you see the point my friends, 

With this remark my story ends. 

We leave it for a future day. 

To learn what our opponents say. 



Nov. 24, 1903. 



CHRISTMAS DAY 1902 

Full nineteen hundred years are gone. 
Since Deity became a babe* 
And put our human nature on. 
In the pure womb of Judah's maid. 

A human babe, our Lord became, 
That. was of this pure virgin born: 
And Jesus was the baby's name. 
Who for a time, laid in a barn. 

This holy babe, or Isreal's king, 
On a glad day, to Bethlehem came; 
Was crowded out of Bethlehem's inn. 
In spite of all his regal fame. 

The wise men from the East appear, 
With costly presents for their king: 
In humble homage they draw near, 
To the sweet babe, and worship Him. 



10 The Words of Faith. 

The Angels wait upon their Lord, 
And in vast multitudes descend 
With Him to Earth and sound abroad. 
The praises of the sinner's friend. 

Yes, Angels sing their makers praise, 
And tell the shepherds he is born 
Id Bethlehem's stable, where He lays, 
And dignifies that humble barn. 

Through all the states of human life, 
Our glorious Redeemer past, 
A babe, a God, by His own right: 
And universal king at last. 

Since God to us His Son hath given, 
To open up our way to heaven; 
Which only He Himself could do, 
Our gratitude shalt never end, 
To our Redeeming God, and friend. 

Let men and Angels ever raise 

Triumphant songs of grateful praise; 

To the incarnate Deity, 

And celebrate our Saviour's birth, 

In sweetest praise through heaven and Earth. 

Nov. 25, 1903. 



THE ALL IMPORTANT QUESTION 

Mhen we resign our mortal breath, 
And our frail bodies sink in death; 
We will the trembling spirit go?. 
To sweetest rest, or restless woe. 
Methinks I hear some angel say, 
When you vacate your house of clay. 
Quick as the lightning's vivid flash, 
Your spirit will with spirits clash: 
Or commune in the sweetest love 
With spirits from the world above: 
And if you walk in Christ the way, 
He will protect your house of clay 
Through every change it undergoes, 
When death has ended all it's woes. 
If decomposed in sea or land, 
It will come forth at his command 
A changed body like His own, 
To occupy a glory throne. 



The Words of Faith. 11 



SECOND PART 

There is no limit to the skill 

Of Him that spake the worlds from naught, 

He can perform His sovereign will. 

On what His mighty power hath wrought. 

The fragments of our house of clay. 

He can raise to eternal day. 

In vain do men, and demons rage. 
To hear this sacred truth proclaimed: 
Our God and Savior doth engage. 
To see His holy word sustained: 
But those who scoffed at gospel light, 
He will raise unto eternal night, 

APPENDIX. 

Who in Jesus live, will never die. 
Dear reader believeth thou this? 
They rise from death, to life on high, 
Clad in the Saviour's righteousness. 
And find themselves at last, at home, 
With the pure host before God's throne. 



WAR 

Let men and angels ever raise, 
Triumphant songs of grateful praise, 
othe eternal three in one. 
And always say, Thy will be done. 
Since war and peace and good and ill, 
Obey the dictates of thy will, 
Then slay, but let thy people live: 
And then to them thy spirit give. 
That they forever may adore 
Thy sovereign great, almighty power, 
That brought them out of nature's night. 
Into the realms of gospel light. 
Let all the nations of the Earth, 
Experience the Spirit's birth, 
Into the fold of Christ our king 
And there unite His praise to sing. 
And then let strife and bloodshed cease. 
And Christian people, live in peace; 
Let heathen tribes prevail no more, 
Or dare molest on Zion's shore. 



12 The Words of Faith. 

Ride on. Thou Glorious couqueror ride. 

The alien armies turn aside, 

Remove all harriers in thy way: 

And introduce the gospel day 

Into the dens of heathenism 

From East to West, from Hell to Heaven, 

Till all the nations of the Earth, 

Shall know and feel the Spirit's birth, 

And join in one Grand choir to sing 

The praises of our God and King; 

Till praise on Earth shall melt away, 

To mingle in Eternal day, 

With songs of angels to adore 

Our saviour God forever more: 

And see the beatific sight 

Where God is seen in His own light. 

When landed on that happy shore, 

Where pain and death are known no more. 

They in their Father's house above. 

Are feasting on His holy love, 

And will Eternity employ. 

Partaking of their masters, joy, 

According to God's promise given, 

When saints are welcome into heaven: 

There all God's people saved by grace, 

See God in their Redeemer's face 

And Jesus will be pleased to know, 

None of His flock are left below . 

Nov. 25, 1903. 

NIGHT THOUGHTS 

In the dead silence of the night, 
While nature sleeps around us: 
Sometimes the soul will get a sight, 
Of the happy world around us. 
Heaven is a sea of glory, 
Without either bottom or shore. 
To test the truth of this story. 
We have to be there, to explore. 
If all this vast ocean so wide. 
Is joy's in inexhaustable store: 
Experience then will decide. 
In favour of Truth, evermore. 
Think of the New Jerusalem, 
It's streets paved with chrystalized gold, 
And the pure beings that walk through them, 



The Words of Faith. 13 

Midst fountains of pleasure untold. 
While saints beyond number draw nigh, 
To the foot of the great white throne: 
And sing their sweet praises so high 
To the great Eternal Three in One; 
The Angels look on and adore, 
Their God, and our Saviour, and King, 
Amazed at His love, and power; 
Who saved His saint's from their sin. 
Oh! how delightful to be there, 
And be one of this happy throng: 
To be free from sorrow, and care, 
And join in their heavenly song, 

PART THE SECOND. 

We have heard of this beautiful Heaven, 

The home of our Father above; 

We have thought of this beautiful Heaven, 

Where God's saints rejoice in His love: 

We hope to see, this beautiful heaven, 

Where angels, in harmony dwell: 

With the saints, in this beautiful heaven, 

And help'their sweet music to swell; 

We'll worship in this beautiful heaven, 

Our Father Redeemer and King: 

With angels in this beautiful heaven. 

Our tribute of praise, we will bring. 

We'll rejoice in this beautiful heaven, 

Where pleasures forever expel 

All evil from this beautiful heaven, 

In whicn all true Christians will dwell. 

Midst fountains of bliss, and banquets of love, 

No sin can creep in, with the blest ones'iabove; 

Who are all so perfectly pure. 

With each vessel full, none everlcomplain. 

Of having less joy than his soul can contain. 

Nov.;27 1903. 



FREE GRACE 

What hast Thou suffered Lord for me, 
Thou bleeding Lamb of Calvary: 
Thou didst behold my state with grief, 
And stoop to come to my relief. 
It wasj'a slave naked, and sore, 
Exposed to the deceiver'slpower: 



14 The Words of Faith. 

A pitying love, filled thy heart, 

And prompted Thee to take my part, 

While wallowing in the mire of sin, 

With nothing thy pure love to win; 

But void of all, that Thoucouldst love: 

To draw Thee Saviour from above. 

Debtor to grace, free grace I am; 

That brought about Redemption's plan, 

And spared not Christ's most precious blood; 

Who died that I may live in God. 



THE COST OF REDEMPTION 

When I think of my dying Lord. 
Nailed to a Roman cross for me. 
The thought doth all my mind absorb. 
And drown my spirit, Lord in Thee, 
In Thee alone is hid my life, 
My Lord, my Saviour, and my God; 
From the vain scenes of worldly strife. 
For wealth, for honor, or for Blood. 
In Thee my God help me to stay, 
Through all this dreary dream of life: 
And wrestle till the break of day. 
With fears and foes and worldly strife. 
In age, and feebleness extreme, 
This world can no relief afford: 
But on that cross, for all my sin, 
The life restoring blood was stored, 
Which let us sinners into God. 
When troubled waters as a flood 
Would overwhelm me, my dear Lord: 
Then by thy help I will abide, 
Safe sheltered in Thy bleeding side 
Till Angels beckon me away, 
To see thy face in endless day. 



Nov, 29. 1993. 



FAITH HOPE AND CHARITY 

St. Paul's first epistle to the Corinthians and the 13th Chapter. 

THE THREE QUEENS 

Three sister queens, in peerless white. 
Come to us from the world of light: 
They are all good, neither is best, 
Yet one is greater than the rest. 



The Words of Faith. 15 

God's chosen minister, in time. 
To fill our souls with love divine. 
Reflects the likeness of His Son. 
On Christians who for glory run. 

She will the power of death defy. 
And live in us after we die; 
But while we run the Christian race, 
The three supply our souls with grace. 

Each has her special place to fill, 
To help us do our Father's will. 
And each her friendly aid will lend, 
To help us to our journeys end; 

Almighty Faith, thou can'st bestow, 
Strength to the weakest in their woe, 
And then, the trembling sinner cries, 
For all my sins, my Saviour dies, 

When mercy hears, the sinners prayer, 
Justice agrees with her to spare. 
Faith grasps omnipotence and grace. 
While joy bedecks the sinner's face. 

Through Faith God will these graces give. 
By Faith in Christ, all Christians live. 
Faith penetrates the frowning cloud, 
That doth our future path enshroud. 

The cloud grows thin and disappears, 
A cheering light dispels our fears, 
Our courage we again renew, 
And our delightful course pursue. 

Both Faith and Hope will pass away 
When we land in Eternal day, 
And reach the final mark, or Goal; 
The home of every Christian Soul. 

We hope to experience bliss, 
Unknown in such a world as this, 
Faith expectation and desire, 
Will make safe founded Hope entire. 

Let Faith, and Hope, and Love combine. 
And these three graces, in us shine. 
Then others will the work complete 
Prepare us, our dear Lord to meet. 



16 The Words of Faith. 



The other graces all agree, 
With the first Queenly, triune, three. 
And with them will fall into line. 
But each one has, her special time. 

When called to fight our deadly foes, 
Courage, her needed aid bestows, 
And we the victory obtain, 
When carnal appetites are slain, 

Should we be called to suffer pain. 
And strive to get relief in vain, 
And for long years these things endure, 
Which drive to Christ to make us pure 

Twin sister graces, we much need, 
To help us hold the fort indeed; 
When earthly friends, forsake our home, 
And.we'are left to die alone. 

Resignation will help supply, 
Our souls with comfort, till we die, 
Patience will Lelp us to endure, 
Till Jesus Christ has made us pure. 

And so these things together work. 
For the great good, and not the hurt; 
Of all God's Children here below. 
Who patiently endure their woe. 

Christ Jesus is, our faithful friend, 
Who does to us, these graces send. 
If we reciprocate His love. 
They fit us for His home above. 

His precious blood, furnished the price. 
Of this most costly merchandise; 
To God in Christ, our thanks are due 
Whose Spirit quickens us anew, 



THE HUMAN TONGUE 

We should not by our words offend, 
Or grieve the mind of any friend. 
If evil thoughts our minds assail, 
We should not let these thoughts prevail. 



The Words of Faith. 17 



We should not strive for mastery, 
But in our lives resemble Thee, 
Our blessed Savior, ever kind, 
Of such a meek and lowly mind. 

Satan presents these thoughts of sin, 
To let his own vile agen's in: 
To take possession of the soul, 
And all its destinies control. 

Our <^od would have his children free. 

Perfect in Christian liberty. 

How sad to think that any fell. 

Through these vile thoughts conceived in hell! 

Who can make the tongue surrender' 
Yet it is a little member. 
Horses and ships will us obey, 
So we can turn them any way. 

But the tongue can no man tame. 
It's like a fire burst out in flame, 
Causing all nature to rebel. 
And it is set on fire of hell. 

It is an unruly evil, 
At times rough but sometimes civil. 
And we are most wise, when we keep 
Our raging tongues inside our teetb. 

And let the slanderer be wise, 
Cease to backbite and scandalize 
Some unsuspecting livers by 
By whispering a dirty lie. 

Nov. 28, 1903, 



THE WORK OF THE HOLY GHOST. 



St. John's Gospel 3rd and 5th verse, "except a man be born of water 
and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God." Neither of 
these two Births have anything to do with the natural birth of the 
body. The birth of water admits man into the visible church, the 
birth of of the Spirit into the kingdom of Grace in which God will pap- 
pare him for glory, the two births is a complete spiritual change to the 
entire person, and places him that experiences it, under the fostering 



18 The Words of Faith. 

care of tthe church, thus including the body, and spirit of man. 
To be born of the Spirit is the work of the Holy Ghost. 
The following poem is a humble acknowledgment of the same. 



To the eternal three in one. 
Be high and equal honors done; 
Our faith doth three embrace, 
Before the triune Deity, 
We bow in holy ecstasy. 
When saved through faith by grace. 

Oh! thou great comforter divine, 

With thy iDherent luster shine 

In my benighted soul, 

The work is Thine, the grace to give, 

That makes a soul that's dead to live, 

The broken hearted whole. 

The Father gave, the Son was"given. 
The way is open now to heaven, 
If thou within us shine, 
Move on the troubled waters move. 
Plant in my heart my Savior's love, 
And that will kindle mine. 



Thou with the Father and the Son, 
Our great salvation work hast done. 
When thou hast set thy seal, not before, 
The all atoning blood applied, 
Shed when our Lord was crucified, 
Our leprous souls to? heal. 

What can a sinner do. Oh! Lord 
But trust in Thy unfailing word, 
And ask thy promised aid. 
To help us back again to Him 
Who died to save us from our sin, 
Whose blood our ransom paid. 

Without thy life infused in me. 

I never can salvation see. 

My soul is dark within, 

Christ is the fountain of that light. 

The light that heals my inner sight, 

And guides me back to him. 



The Words of Faith. 19 

Come then. Oh come! Celestial Dove, 
And shed abroad the Savior's love 
In my unworthy heart. 
Thy hidden secret now reveal. 
Stamp on my soul Thy quickening seal 
And thy new life impart. 

Oh what are all the joys of earth 

To those which come from the new birth 

That flows, my God, from Thee. 

Earth's vain and visionary joys 

The Devil frequently employs 

To hide the truth from me. 

Forgive me. Holy Ghost, forgive. 
Through thy forbearance I now live, 
Oh! turn me not away. 
How often, hast thou urged the plea, 
Give thy faltering heart to me, 
And I will with thee stay. 

I'll stay to be thy source of light 
To guide thee to eternal life 
And be thy counsellor. 
I'll save thee in temptation's hour 
From the dreadful tempter's power 
And be thy comforter. 

My saving grace, so pure and free 

I freely offer unto thee. 

Resist me not again. 

If I should take my final flight, 

And leave thee in eternal night, 

There's none but thee to blame, 

How wretched then would be thy state, 
Thy doom when fixed, it is too late 
To beg for mercy then. 
The Bridegroom comes and in despair 
Thou wouldst with thy neighbors share 
The grace despised in them. 

Nov, 30, 1903. 

THE CHRISTIAN'S HOPE. 

The day of life will come at last, 3 
When all our pains and woes are past, 
And Christ will come without delay, 
And meet us in that better day. 



20 The Words of Faith. 

When pain, and sin, and death are fled, 
And we are to Our Savior wed 
In glory robes, so white and clean, 
We'll meet the Bride, the Heavenly queen. 

And blend with that grand host above, 
And bask in our Redeemer's Love. 
If rough and thorny be the way, 
Which leads us to this Heavenly day. 

When all our work on earth is done. 
The battle fought, the victory won, 
We'll see our blessed Savior's face. 
And praise Him for his saving grace. 

And sing of His redeeming love, 
Forever in His courts above, 
If sore temptations vex us here, 
Satan can never enter there. 

Our trials here, with mercies fraught 
For us a weight of bliss have wrought, 
Exceeding all the bounds of thought. 



IN THE WORK OF MAN'S SALVATION. 

As was, is now, and so will be 
Throughout future eternity. 
Worship divine be paid to Thee, 
Great three in one and one in three, 

And when we bow before God's throne. 
We worship him through Christ alone, 
Glorious majesty and grace 
Adorn our great Redeemer's face. 

To the Father, Son and Spirit, 
We ascribe coequal merit. 
For grace and wisdom in the plan, 
By Jesus Christ to rescue man. 

And when we from the flesh retire, 
And soar away to regions higher. 
We'l sing God's praise in worlds of light, 
While angels wonder at the sight. 

And gaze in ecstasy to see 
The triumph of His majesty, 
When saints in wedding robes so clean. 
Praise Him who did their souls redeem. 



The Words of P'aith. 21 

OLD TRUTHS CLAD IN NEW RAIMENT. 

When you, and I are dead and gone, 
This Earth of ours will still roll on 
Enclosing all the human race, 
In its fond motherly embrace 
With all their active scenes of life. 
And maybe much of mortal strife: 
Yet all these things must have an end, 
And old dame Dature condescend 
Her hidden secrets to reveal; 
And not again her truths conceal. 
Each new discovery will display, 
New secrets, in the light of day; 
Which will not fail to shed new light 
On secrets hid in nature's night. 
But all at once old nature dies, 
A lurid flame obscures the skies. 
The great Arch-angel's trumpet sound 
Has raised the dead, torn up the ground 
And burned the old world up with fire 
On her great final funeral pyre. 
And from her gases doth arise, 
A bright new world into the skies. 
And now these somber scenes shall change, 
For God's immortal saints shall range 
This bright new world which shall be sure 
For them forever to endure. 
And here shall be their happy home. 
Where sin and sorrows are unknown. 
In the new heavens no clouds will rise, 
To darken, or obscure the skies, 
In them our saviour God, will shine 
In blissful rays of light divine. 
Oh! what a blessed happy state. 
Doth every faithful saint await, 4 
When they with glorious bodies rise, 
To meet our Saviour in the skies: 
Who leads them ferth. to their new home, 
Through all it's pleasant fields to roam; 
And drink infinite pleasures in, 
As free from sorrow, as from sin, 
While in the grave, the body lies. 
The soul in aradise will rise: 
In holy joys to us unknown, 
Before we reach our heavenly home: 



22 The Words of Faith. 



Though heirs to such a vast estate, 

The poor in Spirit meekly wait, 

With Christian paiience in their woe, 

If its God's will it should be so: 

Knowing that He, in holy love, 

So fits us here for joys above. 

And now may God His grace impart, 

To raise our spirits, cheer our heart, 

That we our patience may retain; 

And soar aloft, above our pain: 

Until we sink in death's embrace, 

Into new life, and see His face 

Shibing with love, into the soul, 

Which makes the wounded spirit whole; 

While we rejoice at last to find, 

We leave our sorrows all behind; 

And join our loved ones gone before. 

Safe landed on the glory shore: 

To feast on that eternal bliss 

Which cannot in a world like this 

Be ever found by those who seek, 

To make their joys on Earth complete: 

But through that happy world above. 

Flow's one eternal stream of love: 

And the pure bliss, of love divine, 

Will there, in every creature shine; 

And all the blessed host above, 

Enjoy the bliss of mutual love; 

The source of which, to saints will be, 

My blessed Saviour died for me; 

So then in one grand song of praise, 

Their hallelujahs loud they raise, 

Till angels join the sacred cboir, 

And swell their songs of praises higher, 

This happy host shall feel, and see, 

God's holy love's immensity. 

Sink in this fathomless abyss, 

Rise to Eternal happiness; 

To make felicity complete. 

They cast their crowns at Jesus's feet. 

Love's fire upon these altars burns; 

And thus, to Christ it's source returns. 

Dec. 2, 1903. 



The Wokds of Faith. 23 

FOUNDATION Ob THE CHRISTIANS HOPE. 

Christ bursts the barrier of the tomb, 
And robs it of it's dreadful gloom: 
Behold our great deliverer rise, 
Open ye portals of the skies! 
Let God's victorious Son come in, 
Who triumphs over death, and sin: 
That radiant orb of Heavenly day, 
Who chases all our gloom away. 
Who man became, for man to die: 
Ascends His priestly throne on high, 
And pointing to Himself He cries, 
Father, behold the sacrifice. 
Which I for my redeemed have made. 
My blood has their full ransom paid. 
For us He died, for us He bleeds. 
For us He groao'd, for us He pleads, 
His wounds, His pangs, His death and blood: 
And gains our suit before our God. 
Glorious Saviour, God, and man. 
Thy wisdom, first devised this plan; 
Whereby thou canst grant us the grace. 
To raise our deeply sunken race, 
To pardon us, then purify: 
And then exalt to thrones on high; 
Where we, endow'd with nobler powers, 
Will praise the name, so dearly ours. 



THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 

Heaven and earth will pass away, 
But God's word will forever stay; 
Eternally secure. 

The scriptures are this mine of truth, 
In which we all may dig forsooth: 
And each secure the prize. 
None ever yet have sought in vain, 
For all who really seek obtain 
This costly precious prize, 
In spite of Satan's lies. 
This prize when gained, may be retained, 
When our last breath is drawn by death: 
Those who gain it, and retain it. 
Never die; "believest thou this." 
John eleven and twenty six. 



24: The Words of Faith. 

COME 

Dig in and search this sacred mine, 
Its priceless treasures may he thine; 
Dig and you will a pearl ohtain 
©f greater price than earthly gain. 

The pearl of grace, will make you free, 
And you will know sweet liberty 
From Satan's bonds of sin and guilt. 
For this the blood of Christ was spilt. 

Why toil incessantly for gold. 
For wealth or fame we cannot hold 
For any certain length of time, 
When if we search this sacred mine 

We are most certain to succeed, 
In finding all we ever need 
To give us peace and joy through time, 
And fill our souls with love divine. 

Dig, and you will a treasure gain. 
Of greater price than earthly gain: 
Pure gold, unmixt with base alloy 
A taste on earth of heavenly joy. 

Celestial pleasures from on high, 
And peaceful comfort when you die: 
And after death your joy will be, 
As lasting as eternity. 



Dec. 3, 1908. 



ON THE PROPER USE OF WEALTH. 

Make unto yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness. 

OH! Who would sigh for riches here, 
Which he can only hold in fear; 
They may take wings and fly away, 
Or he may leave them any day. 
Earthly wealth often fails to give 
Us any comfort while we live; 
It loads us down with worldly care, 
Steals our affection's largest share, 
Will scarcely let a thought of love 
Exist for Him who pleads above 
For His Redeemed here below. 
Although they slight His goodness so. 



The Words of Faith. 25 



Is it not better to be wise 

And with our blessed Saviour rise 

Above these scenes of strife and toil, 

And with Him share His riches royal. 

Which a vast wealth of bliss secures. 

That everlastingly endures, 

Thus lay our treasure up on high. 

To get again after we die. 

This mammon of unrighteousness. 

Befriends us in our helplessness. 

This is in part why Christians live 

To show the people how to give 

Of their reward for earnest toil; 

Let not the gift their conscience soil, 

Because in part it did contain 

A portion of their ill-got gain. 

Of toil's reward save all you can 

And give it to the needy man; 

Or to advance the cause of Christ, 

By sending forth the gospel light. 

Or give it where it will do good 

But chiefly to the child of God. 

Accompany thy gift with prayer 

That God will bless it everywhere. 



THOUGHTS 
ON THE FIRST PERSON IN THE GODHEAD. 

AS taught by incarnate Son, 
Thou foremost of the great three one 
And leader of tbe Trinity 
la the eternal DEITY. 

Who to us His son hath given 

We call Thee Father in heaven; 

Oh! depth of mercies, boundless sea, 

That thus we're taught to pray to Thee. 

Who first proposed the wondrous plan, 
In God's own image to make man; 
A triune creature to control 
Combining Body, Spirit, Soul, 



The Words of Faith. 

And while the first archangel sings; 
He hides his face behind his wings; 
And in devout humility, 
Worships thy dreadful majesty, 

Thy well beloved Son declares, 
Although He in the Godbead sbares; 
His Father is greater than he, 
In His eternal majesty. 

The great Jehovah we adore, 
And humbly own thy sovereign power; 
And in the name of Jesus Christ, 
Acknowledge Thy most holy right 

To work in us thy sovereign will, 
And all thy purposes fulfill; 
Thee to perfection none can know, 
Angels above or men below. 

And man's vain search to fathom Thee, 
Drowns all his thoughts in mystery; 
Nor can he ever hope to rise 
To see Thee with his mortal eyes: 

In Jesus Christ and Him alone, 
Our way is open to Thy throne; 
And who in Christ are hid in Thee, 
The highest reconciled will see; 
A.nd thus rejoicing in Thy love, 
Will spend eternity above. 



Dec. 5, 190S. 



THE CHRISTIAN IN THE RACE COURSE. 

UJ HILE we run the Christian race, 
Here in the kingdom of thy grace; 
Our anxious eye is fixed on Thee; 
Thou bleeding lamb of Calvary. 

Oh! Let no creature hide our prize, 
One moment from our longing eyes; 
And may the crown of life in light, 
All our best energies excite; 

For if we to the end endure, 
We know the crown of life is sure. 
On Thee, dear Savior, we depend 
To keep us faithful to the end, 



The Words of Faith. 27 



We cannot tell when this will be, 
But in our death, we'l look on Thee: 
And when we look, the blessed sight, 
Will overwhelm us with delight. 

Thee Jesus only will we know, 
While passing through this world of woe: 
Thy presence will new life supply, 
Like that enjoyed by saints on high. 

The life that buoys our spirits up, 
When called to drain affliction's cup: 
Go with us Lord, where'er we go, 
Give patient courage in our woe. 

And at the end of our career, 
We trust to meet Thee without fear: 
This hope is based on naught beside, 
For all our sins, our Saviour died. 



Dec. 6. 1903. 



A POEM FOR THE SUFFERING. 

People of God. Hebrews the 12th aDd 6th and Malachi3d and 2d verse. 

Our hope for Sonship is in vain, 
Except we bear God's chastening pain. 
Whom He receives He purifies, 
And for our good. He does chastise. 
While we endure the chastening rod, 
We feel the loving care of God: 
And we will say thy kingdom come. 
Thy righteous will in us be done. 
If ease from pain, now fails to come, 
We lean on God's Almighty Son: 
And the rich grace which he supplies, 
Exceeds the blessing he denies: 
While Jesus Christ, our souls sustain, 
We smile rejoicing in our pain. 
The lion's paw and cruel jaw, 
Can never tear, with Jesus there. 
The fire will lose it's power to burn: 
And grief, and pain to joy will turn: 
These tempests in the soul subside, 
The raging seas are pacified: 
If Jesus says to them, be still, 
They hasten to obey His will. 



The Words of Faith. 

part the second, malachi the third 
and second. 

The purifier sees his face. 

Distinctly in the melted Gold: 

And then with wise adjusted grace 

All further tests, he doth withhold, 

When Oh! my Saviour will it be 

That Thou canst see thy face in me : 

Thy holy, meek and loving- face, 

So full of goodness, truth and grace: 

When I am perfectly resigned, 

To pain of body, or of mind; 

When all my soul is filled with Thee, 

Thou source of love's immensity. 

Then I will kiss the chastening rod, 

Held by my loving Father, God. 

Then I will yield up all my dross, 

And higher rise, for what I lost, 

The world and flesh, will both retire, 

Out of this crucible of fire 

And then God hrmy soul will see, 

His image re-engraved in me. 

And He in holy love will say, 

It is enough, now come away; 

And mount with me to regions higher, 

Safe from these painful tests of fire. 

I raise thee to this higher place, 

In my glory, only by my grace; 

Come share with my beloved Son 

My Joy; for ever yet to come; 

Thou hast with Him in suffering shared, 

Now take the crown for thee prepared: 

Bride of Christ, pure and holy, 

Enter thou His home in glory. 

He purified and made thee fit, 

Forever at His feet to sit: 

And feast on His eternal love. 

In His great Father's house above. 

THE THIRD PART. 

But come and view that awful p^ce. 
From which he saves thee by His grace, 
Where demons dwell in endless pain 
And struggle to get free in vain. 



The Words of Faith. 29 



The deathless worm of conscience stings 
These guilty souls with all their sins 
In an eternity of night 
Without one cheering ray of light. 
Their day of grace they did despise. 
Now grace is banished from their eyes. 
They can not cleanse their souls from sin, 
And Christ can never take them in. 
As the tree falls it ever lies. 
Condemning conscience never dies. 

THE FOURTH PART. 

At last our Lord receives us in, 
Where Satan cannot tempt to sin, 
And we are safe, the door is shut, 
So in despair he gives us up. 
And Jesus Christ is glorified. 
When He receives His ready bride, 
Whom He has bought and purified. 
The purchase money is His blood. 
This purifies the sons of God, 
When by the Holy Ghost applied. 
The humble soul is sanctified. 
To this the Father, Spirit, Son 
Agree in the Eternal One. 

Dec. 7, 1903. 



SATANIC STORMS IN THE CHURCH. 

Luke, I7th Chap., First Two Verses. 

Offenses will not fail to come. 
It will suffice if only one 
Fouls the water with stinking mire 
To irritate another's ire. 

But woe be to that guilcy one 
Through whom these dire offenses come. 
It would be better far that he ! 
Was drowned in the deepest sea. 

While struggling in this awful wave 
We pray thee dearest Lord to save 
And bear our feeble spirits up 
Till we have drained this bitter cup. 



30 The Words of Faith. 

Forgive oh Lord the erring friend 
And save us all unto the end, 
To Thee, Oh! God for help we cry 
To Thee who would'st not have us die. 

Oh help us. Lord, aloft to soar 
Above this whirpool's deaf 'ing roar. 
Like Peter, we feel sinking down. 
Without thy help Oh Lord we drown. 

Satanic tempests in this storm 
Create the most intense alarm. 
The treacherous waves beneath our feet 
Threaten our ruin to complete. 

But thou wilt show us who is>ight 
When all our foes are put to flight. 
Scatter these dire Satanic mists 
With Thy own light and righteousness. 

For in thy pure and loving mind, 

We never shall these tempests find: 

And if we meekly follow Thee, 

We shall sweet peace and gladness see. 



ON THE NAVIES OF THE UNITED STATES, 
ENGLAND AND JAPAN. 

IF stars and stripes and Union Jacks, 
Escorted by their friendly Japs, 
Do sail in close proximity 
And most sincere affinity; 
Mother and Son. with Japs combined, 
A fighting foe will seldom find. 
Other nations will wait to see 
What the result may prove 10 be; 
But this applies to the high seas, 
Where they can sail where 'ere they please. 

ENGLAND. 

I know no place like old England, 
With her churches and her towers; 
On Sabbath morn the music grand 
Of ringing bells for many hours 
Reminds us that this is the time 
We should attend to things divine: 



The Words of Faith. 31 

And all in prayer and praise unite 

To bow before the throne of grace 

And worship Deity aright, 

Beneath the smiles of Jesus' face. 

And sit at our Redeemer's feet 

Whose presence makes our joy eemplete. 

Oh! Hove the name of England, 

The land of mv nativity. 

No scenery appears so grand 

As where I spent my infancy. 

But few places vie with England 

For flowers; or for genial showers, 

Which moisten all that happy land. 

And ever clothe its fields and flowers 

With lovely and perennial green, 

Which elsewhere are so seldom seen. 

Happy England, I admire thee. 

When I recall to mind the past: 

In all thy deeds of charity. 

Which throughout time we trust will last; 

And they most likely will endure 

Long as we find the abject poor. 

All England's acknowledged power 

Upon the great and wide spread seas. 

Can't in reflection's quiet hour 

Solace the Christian's mind like these: 

Which so reflect that God-like love 

That reigns supreme in Heaven above. 

Happy England when through thy fields 

In careless wanderings I strolled 

To pick cowslips; which odor yields 

Surpassing buttercups of gold; 

With primroses and violets white— 

Oh! what a pretty, lovely sight. 

It may be then I turned to see 

In sparkling streams of water clear; 

The spotted trout in mirthful glee. 

Which often hid as I drew near. 

In his most private dwelling place 

Where I could seldom see his face. 

Sometimes my mind led me to stroll, 

Through the wild woodlands far and near; 

So genial to the pensive soul; 

The home of pheasants, hare and deer: 

How sad to see these creatures run 

When hunted by the dog and gun. 



32 The Words of Faith. 

REFLECTIONS ON THE PAST, IN OLD AGE. 

My youthful friends are dead and gone, 
But He whom I rely upon 
Is ever present at my side: 
And will, all that I need provide. 
The world with all its noise, and show, 
Fails to relieve me of my woe; 
My kindred dead, and I am left 
Of all my early friends bereft: 
Not all, methinks, I hear Him say. 
Who is my life, my joy, my way; 
I know thy weakness, and thy grief, 
And I will grant thee sweet relief. 
If thou wilt walk in me the way, 
Grace shall be equal to thy day, 
While thou art faithful unto me: 
Thy foes shall never ruin thee. 
And when thy days on earth shall end, 
Thou shalt with me to heaven ascend, 
My earthly trainers now are gone, 
Those^whom I once relied upon; 
My dearest friends in early youth, 
Who taught me to believe the Truth: 
Avoiding every sinful way, 
And walking in the light of *day: 
These friends are numbered with the dead, 
Their souls have joined their living head, 
We hope to meet them when we die. 
And all the power of death defy, 
Oh! what a meeting that will be; 
When we once more, each other see; 
Eternal life triumphs at last, 
When all the pains of death are past. 
Then death restores to^us again, 
What it has seized but can't retain. 
Part of my friends are gone before, 
We see them in this world no more: 
And some, I can not hope to find, 
I left my home, with them behind 
But one alone, left home witlume, 
This is my wife, which you may-see: 
It's long ago, in early life, 
When Annie Yeates became my wife. 
Pull fifty seven years have past, 
Since we secured the knot so fast: 



The Words of Faith. 33 

I twenty four, she twenty three, 
When we two ventured out to sea: 
To battle with the storms of life, 
With harness on, as man and wife. 

Dec., 1902. 



THE BELATED SCHOOL BOY. 

A scholar of the district school. 
Did not intend to play the fool 
Because he spent much time in play. 
When school was out one dreary day, 
He played until the day was spent, 
For which he sorely did repent: 
He could not see which way to go, 
And what to do he did not know, 
For neither Moon, or Stars did shine, 
At this to him distressing time; 
And now for the first time, thought he, 
What shall I hear, what shall I see: 
In the dark, and dismal forest, 
Where satyrs dance; and owls flourish: 
Trembling he approached these creatures. 
And saw their hideous features; 
And cried with a loud voice, lost man, 
Friends come and save me if you can: 
This was no sooner said than done, 
But then he started out to run; 
When lo! a voice rang out so clear, 
Whoo, whoo, whoo; who is it I hear; 
Sincerely doth the boy reply, 
My name is Jackes, I don't deny: 
Im' lost but have no business here, 
In this terrific place of fear; 
When whoo, whoo, whoo, came back to him. 
The echo made his head to swim: 
Says he, you fool up there so tall, 
My name is Jackes, that is all: 
To which the owl, up in the tree, 
Replied si-mul-ta-ne-ous-ly: 
My owlets once, expressed a wish, 
For such a tasty savoury dish; 
As your dull blue eyes would make them. 
I do think that I must take them, 
Except you get away from me; 
You never more will mother see, 



34 The Words of Faith. 

THE GRACIOUS INVITATION. 

Composed and written for the first time Dec U ,1903. 

Come unto me, come sinner thou, 
This is thy work, come do it now; 
I Jesus will give thee the power. 
To come to me, this present hour: 

And bring with thee thy load of sin, 
Then to the foot, of my cross cling; 
Not one sinner can perish there. 
I always answer faithful prayer. 

Unpardoned sin, will sink thy soul 
In woe, which thou can'st not control. 
Or in this present world conceive, 
I alone can, thy soul relieve. 

It's worse than folly, to delay, 
And pack thy load another day; 
Since no man knows when he must die, 
And from this world forever fly, 

If thou wilt only come to me, 
I'll reconcile, thy God to thee; 
Now stop a moment, to reflect, 
And my proposals, to inspect. 

Delay no longer to repent, 
To my proposals, now consent: 
And cease to sin, counting the loss, 
As gain, in thy Redeemer's cross. 

Yea, count this world but dung and dross. 
When you resign it for my cross; 
Why do ye to these follies cling, 
And still disown me for your king, 

Come unto me, ye sinners, come, 
What could I do, more than I've done; 
Can I do more, than shed my blood 
To make you happy in my love. 

I tasted death for all mankind. 
That all in me might mercy find; 
But those who slight me must remain, 
Held fast by sin's eternal chain 
To pay the penalty of pain. 



The Words of Faith. 35 



IN A SNOW STORM. 



Sunday. March 15, 1904. 

^he snow is white as purest light. 
And when the Sun doth shine: 
The glories of so pure a sight 
Will render mortals blind. 



v 



It leaves its home up in the sky. 
And comes to us from regions high; 
Our gracious Father's blessed gift 
To give us all a heavenward lift. . 

And teach us truths that are divine 
Beyond our fleeting space of time; 
Where saints and angels have their home. 
Before Jehovah's awful throne. 

Where all is pure and spotless love, 
In that most holy world above; 
If impure souls could enter there, 
They never could it's glories bear. 

Impure beings dare not to gaze 
On heav'nly things in glory rays; 
Which greet the saints and angel's sight, 
In heaven's glory world of light. 

May thoughts suggested by the snow, 
Help us to raise from things below; 
Into a pure and holy state, 
Fit for our Father to translate. 

Being clad in Jesus' righteousness. 
That pure and holy wedding dress: 
Which renders all us wearers meet, 
To worship at Jehovah's feet. 



March 14. 1904, 



Sensual pleasures always blend 
With deadly poisons in their end. 



A WORD OF WARNING TO THE YOUNG. 



All who break 3od's law of nature. 
Pay the penalty soon after; 
God never did or will excuse 
Any who do this law abuse. 



36 The Words of Faith. 

Those who indulge in sinful lust, 
A dagger into themselves thrust; 
Alas! Alas! The cost exceeds 
The pleasure, purchas'd by these deeds 
This truth, its folly to despise, 
To he entrap't with open eyes; 
None can again themselves enjoy. 
Who are ensnared in this decoy, 
May those who read this take the hint. 
And set their faces like a flint; 
Against the great deceiver's wiles 
When he with fleshly lust beguiles. 



April 2, 1904. 



CENTENNIAL POEM. 

In this eventful century, 
The close of which will bring, 
The world the space of time to see 
When Christ will be its king. 



This space, one thousand years will fill, 
Six thousand having past: 
Since man did Eden's garden till, 
But was expelled at last, 

3. 

Pour thousand years had past away 
After man's creation: 
Before the morning star of day 
Shone for his salvation. 

4. 
And when two thousand morelare past, 
The happy time will come: 
Of the millennium at last, 
The reign of God's own Son. 

5. 
Hosanna, to the great I am, 
Whose law will firm remain: 
For the great benefit of man. 
Throughout all time the same. 

6. 
To keep the seventh part of time, 
According to his will; 
By sacred rest and works divine, 
His purpose to fulfil. 



The Words of Faith. 37 



The seventh and seventh year 
Was law lor Jews to keep; 
To skip the forty-ninth quite clear, 
With rest the fiftieth greet. 



Thus the last day of the seven, 
Gave place unto the first; 
A type of Christian Sabbaths given, 
And the millennial birth. 

9. 
One hundred years will glide away, 
The conflicts in the East; 
Point to the coming heavenly day— 
The millenial feast. 

10. 
The Sun of righteousness will rise 
With healing in His wings; 
Pierce opposition He defies, 
Prom earth's most hostile kinga. 

11. 
Satanic darkness in men's minds, 
Will hide its horrid head; 
When gospel light with glory shines 
It brings to life the dead. 

12. 
The powers of darkness will retire 
Baf ore this blessed light; 
Like clouds consumed by solar fire. 
Which vanish out of sight. 

13. 
One thousand years short as one day, 
To God's eternal mind appears: 
The six days of creation may, 
Completely fill six thousand years. 

14. 
Jesus, thou art our righteousness 
The cleansing virtues of thy blood. 
We do with humble joy confess: 
To be our only way to God. 



38 The Words of Faith. 

15. 
Against the foes of Christ our king, 
May we as soldiers of the cross, 
The powers or darkness and of sin; 
So fight as to sustain no loss. 
But the final victory gain, 
And our complete reward obtain. 

16. 
But when the times are fully ripe, 
For the grand millennium day, 
Christ will assert His regal right, 
And make His many foes obey. 
They must accept His saving grace, 
Or fly before His frowning face. 

17. 
Then wars, and woes, and plagues shall cease, 
And Christian people live in peace: 
With satan chain 'd in his own hell, 
Who can the joys of Christians tell: 
No demons then will throng the air, 
This power's prince is absent there. 

18. 
Oh! Happy days of gospel grace, 
When Christ reveals His loving face; 
To all the nations of the earth, 
He gives them peace and holy mirth: 
They may salvation have in Him, 
His blood atones for human sin. 

19, 
Jesus will lead them forth to feed. 
In lovely pastures where no weed, 
Of unbelief or sin can grow, 
Or live in His pure church below, 
But streams of grace all fresh and pure, 
Forever for their use are sure. 

20. 
Equipped with Jehovah's might, 
His church prevails in every fight; 
Disease and death will both retire, 
Before this sin consuming fire; 
For Christ God's holy Son will reign, 
And all His regal rights sustain. 



The Words of Faith. 39 



21. 

Oh! What a blessed time to live, 
The happy thought such pleasures give; 
How happy they must surely be. 
Who in the fullness of times see; 
The kingdoms of this earth become, 
The kingdoms of God's blessed Son. 

22. 
Then righteousness from pole to pole, 
Is free for every human soul; 
For unto some extent at least. 
All can partake of this grace feast 
And joy; and happiness abound, 
As air which does the earth surround. 

23. 

But when this happy time shall end, 
Satan will from his pit ascend; 
And occupy his former place, 
And tempt and vex the human race; 
Then Christ will unto judgment come, 
The wheels of Time will cease to run. 

24. 

All secrets then, will be reveal'd 
That until then had been conceal'd: 
And now the Christian's living head, 
Who is the judge of quick and dead: 
Will see these things in open light, 
Exposed to men, and angel's sight, 

25. 

And now the Saints, in robes of light, 
Shining with glory clear and bright; 
Having been by Christ redeemed. 
Are now by God as sons esteemed; 
And most completely justified. 
By Him, who for all sinners died. 

26. 
But Oh! The terrors and dismay, 
Of that terrific awful day; 
To men and angels in their sin, 
For the angry look of Him; 
Who is their judge they cannot bear. 
They shrink from it in sad despair . 



40 The Words of Faith. 



27. 

The judge then drives them from His throne, 

Into their own eternal home; 

With their own father there to dwell, 

Forever in his native hell; 

And suffer that degree of pain, 

Demanded by their guilty stain. 

28. 
With the lost soul no good is found, 
But hatred and distress abound; 
No songs will mingle with the sighs, 
Of him who there forever cries. 
In deep distress and sad despair, 
Knowing he is forever there. 



Nor dare he ever to complain 

Of his condition in his pain; 

He sinned away his day of grace, 

And chose his own unhappy place. 

When he resigned his mortal breath: 

To be with demons after death. 

30. 
Eternity looms up in sight, 
But Oh! It is eternal night, 
A deathless conscience ever stings, 
The knell of death forever rings; 
In hopeless chimes of sad despair, 
For all who ever enter there. 

31. 

This solemn day will surely come, 

The clock of Time will cease to run, 

Our fag end of Time will perish, 

But eternity will flourish; 

And everlastingly roll on, 

Not governed by the Earth and Sun % 



These make our seasons, day and night, 
And furnish us with feed and light. 
Clothing and other blessings, too, 
While we our space of Time pass through; 
According to God's wise decree. 
As He sees best for you and me. 



The Words of Faith. 41 



33 

Eternity will then remain 
To every creature all the same. 
The pure in bliss forever dwell, 
And the impure will dwell in hell; 
The saved enjoy eternal life. 
The lost exist in endless night. 

34. 
Imprisoned in our atmosphere, 
Lost demons dwell in sad despair; 
And restlessly await the time, 
Appointed by the power Divine; 
When with their prince chained down in hell, 
They must for a long season dwell. 

35. 

And lieing wonders then will cease. 

And people get a time of peace; 

For demons cannot then attend, 

And so these seances must end; 

They with their prince chain 'd down in hell 

Cannot lies to mediums tell. 

36. 
As these appointed times draw nigh, 
Light from the morning star on high; 
Dawns on our distant horizon, 
And indicates the rising sun; 
Which will at the right time appear. 
And gild with light our mundane sphere. 

37. 
The sun of righteousness will shine, 
Filling this earth with light divine, 
Satan and demons chain'd at last, 
Until this happy time has past 
Christ will on earth triumphant reign, 
And all His kingdom's laws maintain. 

38. 
What tongue can tell or mind conceive, 
The joy when martyred saints receive; 
Their seats on earth with Christ to reign, 
In compensation for their pain; 
And loss of life which they sustain'd, 
But faithful unto Christ remain'd. 



42 The Words of Faith. 

39, 
When fiends go out and saints come in, 
This happy season will begin; 
And Oh! What changes will take place 
In these auspicious days of grace; 
No fiends to influnce mankind; 
Shall ever then a foothold find. 

40, 
But martyr'd saints with matchless skill, 
Confirm the doctorings of His will 
Who seated on His kingly throne, 
Claims earthly kingdoms as His own, 
This sainted hand their influence shed. 
In favor of their living head. 

41, 
And Jesus Christ. Himself dictates, 
His righteous will, in His mandates, 
For every creature now may see 
His omnipresent majesty, 
Arm'd with the Godhead's awful might, 
Array'd in glory robes of light. 

42. 
With all these agencies at work. 
And Christ enthron'd in every church, 
An ocular demonstration: 
Of the source of man's salvation, 
The churches all may well rejoice, 
And utter forth a glorious voice. 

43. 

The scriptures old and new agree, 
And work in sacred harmony. 
These deep mysteries to reveal, 
And not the truth from us conceal; 
They prove to all beyond a doubt, 
Seers saw what they wrote about. 

44. 
And every word is strictly true, 
To scenes presented to their view; 
But yet to understand it right, 
We need the Holy Syirit's light; 
And then we can pick up their thread, 
And by them to the truth be led. 



The Words of Faith. 43 

45. 

The cloud by day and fire by night, 

Suspend out in open sight, 

Over God's house, high in the air, 

Cymbalized His presence there; 

A type of millennium time, 

When the bright antetype will shine, 

46. 
The Shekinah, which men could see. 
A signal of God's maj esty: 
To those who in His temple meet, 
To worship at Jehovah's feet; 
Will in this happy time remain. 
During worship; a living flame. 

47. 
This morning star most surely brings 
Healing in His heavenly wings; 
Pain and diseases both retire 
Before it's sin-consuming fire; 
With Jesus on his earthly throne, 
No epidemic will be known. 

48. 
No cyclones will tear through the air, 
For demons will be absent there; 
These regions then, will be serene, 
And from all foul diseases clean, 
People will live to a great age, 
A happy life through every stage. 

49. 
Creatures on earth, like those above, 
Will live in peace and lamb-like love; 
The Lion, with the Ox will play, 
A child, may drive them both away; 
Men of opposing views combine, 
In love to yield to laws divine. 

50, 
See Christ our King to earth descend, 
And martyred saints their Lord attend, 
As kings and priests with Him to reign, 
And in their bodies live again, 
One thousand years on earth to see, 
The triumphs of His majesty. 



44 The Words of Faith. 



51. 

Land secrets in ethereal space, 
Help introduce this time of grace. 
But clouds and darkness must precede, 
This happy time of which we read; 
When Christ accepts His earthly throne 
And for a time makes it His home. 



52. 



Satanic storms in aerial space, 
Will sorely vex the human race; 
Volcano bursts and earthquakes too, 
Be seen and felt by not a few. 
Distress'of nations will take place, 
Before this blessed time of grace. 



53. 

Vast meteoric stones may fall, 
And lodge in this terrestial ball; 
And men of fame or stars come down, 
And prostrate lay upon the ground; 
But just before the morning light, 
Will be the darkest time of night. 



54. 

Terrific fires will millions burn. 
Before the world will wisdom learn; 
And walk in all her pleasant ways, 
Where subtle gases never blaze. 
Safe from the dangerous paths of sin, 
That always may sad ruin bring. 



55. 

The wisdom coming from above, 
Will bring the blessings of God's love; 
His chastening rod in love will try 
Those whom he fits for thrones on high; 
We cannot tell, how vast the price, 
Of wisdom's costly merchandise. 
But best of all; the light of day, 
Will chase these troubles all away. 



The Words of Faith. 45 

THE FLESH AND BLOOD OF CHRIST. 

A poem founded on the following scriptures— The 27th and 10 fol- 
lowing verses of the 6th chapter of St. John's Gospel; also Revelations* 
the 2d and 17th, and the 4th and 5th verses of the 5th chapter in the 2d 
Epistle to the Corinthians. 

1. 

Oh! Boundless grace, amazing love, 
That brought Thee, Saviour, from above; 
Thy flesh indeed, is food divine, 
Thy blood, dear Lord, is heavenly wine, 
Sustain'd with these, we can defy, 
The power of sin, when called to die; 
And get the victory over death, 
Soon as we draw our latest breath. 

2. 
Poor starving souls, without this food, 
Are void of life and light and good; 
For nothing can supply the place, 
Of this almighty saving grace; 
Daily on Thee, by faith to feed, 
Is what our deathless souls, all need; 
The bread of Life, sent down from heaven, 
Ever to us all be given. 

All who by faith, so feed on Thee, 
Eternal life will surely see; 
For Thou wilt raise them up at last, 
From nature's death that held them fast; 
And seat them upon thrones on high. 
In glory world's above the sky; 
Where they all cleans'd from every sin, 
Will drink immortal pleasures in. 

4. 
Lord let me ever dwell in Thee, 
And Thou dear Savior, reign in me; 
Thou do'st thy life, for sinners give, 
That those who trust in Thee might live. 
Safe from the second death in hell. 
With Thee forevermore to dwell; 
In union with God, the Son, 
As he is with His Father one. 



16 The Words of Faith. 



5. 
This hidden manna, we all need, 
To eat this blessed food indeed; 
And see our names in the white stone, 
Which only to us can be known, 
Jesus will break this stone in two; 
Keep part, and give the rest to you, 
And when, as our great Judge he sits. 
We'll find each part the other fits; 

6, 
When ends our pilgrimage beneath, 
We'd worship at our Saviour's feet; 
Man's frail clay house will glide away. 
As he soars to Eternal day: 
Exalted to those thrones on high, 
He never more again will die; 
Clothed in a spotless wedding dress, 
Which is our Savior's righteousness; 
Bold we appear before His throne, 
And claim His Kingdom for our home. 



Jan'y, 1904. 



THE TOP SHELF. 



Put your jewels on the top shelf. 
Where thieves can never get to steal; 
This is the p]ace to store your wealth, 
And all your precious gems conceal. 

2. 
There they in safety will abide, 
When earthly stores all pass away; 
And wait'f or us till we arrive, 
To claim them in eternal day, 

3. 

The worldly minded will display, 
Their gems, their diamonds and gold; 
The priceless pearl they cast away. 
As if too mean for them to hold. 



Their trinkets do indeed display, 
A foolish pride and lack of grace, 
And those who sport them disobey, 
Our great Redeemer to His face. 



The Words of Faith. ±1 



The moth and rust cannot efface. 
The stores in the upper story, 
They are secure in this high place, 
We shall gee them all in glory. 



Give not the body all it craves, 
To eat and drink and decorate; 
But check it in its sinful ways, 
Thy labor it will compensate. 

7. 
Secure what comforts you may need, 
This is our privilege and right, 
Then use your surplus means indeed, 
As angels from the world of light. 

8. 
Disseminate the gospel light, 
Upon the spiritually dead: 
That those who sleep in carnal night, 
May wake and join our living Head. 

9. 
Rise out of sin most joyfully, 
Put on the uniform of grace; 
Abstain from all impurity. 
Reflect our Savior's blessed face. 

10. 
Plant your standard high up in Christ, 
Above a mediocrity, 
And strive to live a spotless life, 
Of holy Christianity. 

Jan'y. 1904. 



SCIENCE AND GRACE. 

The scientific discoveries of the present century will have a ten- 
dency to promote the»progress of Christianity, in preparing the Church 
and the world for the millennium. 

1. 
' tep after step, science displays. 
More hidden secrets in its ways; 
And points the penetrating mind, 
Toward the place where it will find. 
Existing truths as yet concealed, 
That must be to mankind reveal'd. 



s* 



48 The Words of Faith. 



Science and grace go hand in hand, 
Escourted by a faithful band, 
By enlightened devotees, 
Whose daily life with both agrees. 
For solid facts exist in truth, 
Which may be prov'd of us forsooth. 



3. 

The worlds of science, and of grace. 

Unite to elevate our race, 

And each will occupy the mind 

With advance thoughts that leave behind 

Exploded theories; and strike,! 

The secret flame of purest light. 



Many theories will expire, 

And to oblivion retire; 

When grand old Truth displays her face, 

And shines with overwhelming grace; 

It will the church and world prepare, 

For Jesus Christ, it's rightful heir. 



5. 



True Christianity will sway, 
Her sceptre in the light of day; 
And gild with all triumphant grace, 
The nations of the human race; 
The kingdoms of this world become, 
The footstool of God's holy Son. 



All nations will submit to Him, 
Who saves from ruin and from sin; 
His kingdom will be glorious, 
For He will be victorious, 
When all the world becomes divine, 
The glory Lord, be ever Thine. 



Jan'y, 1904. 



The Words of Faith. 49 

For the Rock whereupon the following poem is founded see Luke 
the 11th and 24th verses. Also the second Epistle of St. Peter, 3d chap- 
ter and 10th verse. 

THE ABODE OF UNCLEAN SPIRITS. 

1 \«7ithin the vast expanse of space 

W And in the region of our air; 

A subtle gas exists, 
Where demons find their destined place. 
Their home eternally is where, 
Despair with hope conflicts. 

2 This subtle gas these spirits fire, 
With restlesslpains denoted hell; 

Which they can never shun. 
How gladly would they all expire: 
And not in endless torments dwell, 

This end can never come. 

3 This subtle gas» is suspended, 
Through all our common atmosphere; 

Held by Divine decree. 
Safely until Time is ended, 
Then it explodes and we shall hear 

Our lot eternally, 

Jan'y, 1904. 



The following remarks relate to the poem, entitled, -Status of true 
Christianity. God made man a spiritual creature, unlike any other 
creature which He ever made so far as we know, and to crown man 
He endowed him with a living soul. He did this by breathing into His 
nostrils the breath of life; Divine life. I do not understand this divine 
life as necessarily including the natural life of the body, and yet it may 
or he may have possessed this as the other creatures do; but either 
way it was the breath of our Creator that imparted unto man his living 
soul. But when man began to doubt God's truth, he believed satan's 
lies; and committed his first sin, exchanged the Life proceeding from 
God for satan's death, now Christ slays satan in man by His death upon 
the cross and imparts His own life by the Holy Ghost in regeneration. 



50 The Wokds of Faith. 

STATUS OF TRUE CHRISTIANITY. 

Cols. 3d and 1st 4 verses. 

1 \ « Then we are risen with Our Lord, 

V\ Out of the carnal state of death; 
We live again with Christ in God, 
Begotten by the Spirit's breath. 

% Unto the world we will be dead, 

Not in subjection held by it, 
But raised with Christ our living head, 
We worship only at His feet. 

3 These things that are above we seek, 
Where Jesus in His glory reigns; 

Our Prophet, Priest and King complete, 
His humble followers sustains. 

4 The world shall never share with Christ. 
The fervent love that's due to Him, 
His holy love and power unite, 

To save our ruined souls from sin. 

5 Our vain affections now are dead, 
And Christ who is our life doth reign; 
When all His enemies are fled, 
Triumphant in our souls again. 

6 Let christians all and everywhere. 
Make all these sentiments their own: 
Then let them by their lives declare, 
They trust in Christ and Him alone. 

7 Thus clad with Jesus' righteousness. 
The saints in glory always shine, 
With most transcending loveliness; 
Their costly garments are divine, 

March, 1904. 



A WORD OF WARNING TO PROFESSORS. 

Twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew, the 30th and following verses to 
the end of the Chapter. 

THEY SHALL NEVER SEE LIGHT. 

* T n outer darkness there's no light, 

1 No day but never ending night, 
Unfaithful stewards of God's grace, 
Are cast into this dreadful place; 
Where light they never more will see. 
But in this darkness always be. 



The Words of Faith. 51 

2 This is the place for those designed 
Who join the church but leave behind 
Link'd to this world their secret love, 
And set it not on things above: 

To faithless servant but not Son, 
This fearful end will surely come. 

3 God help us all to be sincere 

To serve Thee, Lord, in love and fear, 
As faithful children of Thy grace, 
To run with patience in our race; 
And do our utmost to f ullfil 
Our gracious Father's blessed Will. 

A And at the end of our career. 

We trust to meet Thee without fear; 
When cleans'd with Thy attoning blood, 
Applied to every child of God; 
In every age'and nation. 
By this work regeneration. 

Composed and written March 6. 1904. 



SERIOUS THOUGHTS. 

My time on earth is nearly spent, 
The change is just about to come 
That will compel me to consent 
To make eternity my home. 

Will angel bands my soul convey 
To their delightful home above, 
To live in light and endless day. 
With Jesus and the friends I love. 

If I am faithful unto death. 
To my Redeeming God of love, 
When I resign my mortal breath, 
I rise into his home above. 

This is all the verses I Lave written since May 11th when I was 82 
years old. May S?, 1905. 



52 The Words of Faith. 

SOFT, SLOW AND CLEAR. 

Please let your words be slow and clear 
They gently fall upon the ear; 
For if you talk both fast and loud, 
You do day sense of hearing crowd; 
With a loud buzzing, roaring sound, 
In which the words are seldom found; 
And sol fail to hear or know; 
A thing you say when talking so. 
For I am old and very weak, 
My sense of hearing incomplete, 
But yet I can distinctly hear. 
When words are whispered slow and clear. 
We cease to feel, taste, smell, hear, see, 
When launched into eternity. 
These doors will then be sealed tight, 
In death's long cold and dreary night; 
With our bodies they all retire, 
Our spirits mount to regions higher; 
Or sink in the abyss of woe, 
No pleasures evermore to know: 
And when the thread is borne away, 
That binds the spirit to the clay. 
The living spark of holy fire 
Will from its casket— then retire; 
The earthen vessel in the grave 
Will rest; till Jesus Christ doth raise 
It up into immortal life; 
And then its soul with it unite. 
The man complete will live again. 
And always in the state remain: 
In all its purity and bliss, 
Or all its sins and wickedness, 
In which death found him in the day. 
When his flve^senses fled away; 
Then nobler powers will supply, 
All true christians when they die; 
And take the place of'senses lost, 
At our beloved Redeemer's cost; 
The crown of life our Lord bestows 
On those whom He approves and knows: 
Proves that they will enjoy this state, 
At death, and will not have to wait 
Until the resurrection day, 
To realize the grand display; 
Of]these more noble powers divine, 
Whichlthen will still far brighter shine. Nov. 17, 1902. 



The Words of Faith. 53 

THE DANGER OF RICHES. 

FIRST PART. 

While gliding down the stream of time. 
Appointed by the will divine: 
To living 'mortals on their way, 
To darkest night or brightest day, 
In the great.future world unknown, 
Where all appear before God's throne; 
When seated on His judgment seat, 
To render all their'dues complete; 
From which decision no appeal. 
Can ever to the mind reveal; 
A mitigation of that law, 
Which stamps those with a fatal flaw: 
Who lack the faith and Holy love. 
That'flts us for a home above. 
For if we to our mammon cling, 
We cannot love our Savior King, 
Weile hurrying onward to the goal; 
Prepared for every human soul; 
Twixt rocks and sand bars hurried through. 
Sad wrecks presented to our view: 
The fearful news to us proclaim. 
Of^comrades who this loss sustain; 
Whose face was wreck'd and souls wei'e slain 
By eager grasp of worldly gain. 

SECOND PART. 
It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a 
rich man to enter into the kingdom of God." See Mark 10 and 25. 
Small camels through the needle's eye, 
Or foot path through the city wall; 
May force their way if they will try, 
With^nothing on their backs at all; 
But those who in their riches trust; 
And to their hordes of money cling: 
Will find thatmammon's golden dust; 
Doth only bitter sorrows bring. 
When all on earth-is passed away. 
And nothing left to them of it; 
They fail to see eternal day, 
And on high thrones of glory sit; 
But plunge into the pit of hell, 
With mammon's votaries to dwell, 
And but for God's amazing grace; 
The rich could never see His face. Nov. 18, 1902. 



54 The Wokds of Faith. 

TIME FLIES. 

Tempus fugit, but oh! how slow, 
The passing time appears to go; 
To those suffering with great pain, 
So anxious to get ease again. 

Time always flies with equal speed, 
As fast by night as day indeed; 
And yet his wheels turn very slow, 
To those who would much faster go. 

To them an hour is like a week, 
They pass the night and seld©m sleep, 
But with the spirits of the dead, 
They watch for morning on their bed. 

Midnight has come and past away, 
Oh! for the cheering light of day; 
The burning gas, consumes my veins; 
And fills my body up with pains. 

Tormented even in my sleep, 
Grant me dear Savior, some relief, 
Or let thy Spirit bear me up, 
While drinking of this bitter cup. 
Composed while under the influence of severe pain, midnight, Jan, 26,'03 



THOUGHTS ON ETERNITY. 

Eternity, we dwell in Thee, 
As bubbles in the boundless sea, 

Of thy immensity; 
As bubbles burst in boundless space, 
And cease to occupy a place; 

In that vicinity: 
So ends oniearth, all mortal ties. 
With these cut off we will arise: 

In immortality. 
We had to come and and take our place 
In thee; to run our transient race, 

In our appointed time; 
Or fragment of eternity; 
As set for all mankind and me 

In God's eternal mind, 
We^do not place ourselves in time, 
Our parents and our God combine. 

And don't regard our will. 



The Wokds of Faith. 55 

When call'd to come, We must obey. 
Come forth into the light of day 

Our station there to fill. 
One mind alone can ever see, 
Completely through eternity; 

This is the mind of God. 
He does its fullness comprehend, 
Without beginning, without end: 

He rules it with His Nod. 
When sleeping chaos heard His call. 
To echoing through the bouDdless hall, 

Of past eternity; 
It sprang into a state of life. 
Then it did its powers unite 

To praise the Deity. 
The morning stars began to sing 
The praises of their God and king. 

First in eternity. 
Angels and creatures great and small, 
Obey'd their great creator's call; 

With sweet impunity; 
But through eternal ages past. 
Before these creatures came at last; 

To break monotony: 
No Sun or moon or star exists; 
Sole occupant, Jehovah sits: 
In past eternity. 
I cannot shun His piercing eye. 
Which penetrates both earth and sky; 

And fills infinity; 
If I love God He knows it well, 
If I do not, then He can tell; 

What is in store for me. 
Eternity goes rolling on, 
One-half is now completely gone, 

The other half to come. 
Our final home will be in Thee. 
Thou future of eternity: 

When all our work is done. 

Feb. 21, 1903. 



KNOWLEDGE AND WISDOM. 

Arranged with wisdom, truth and grace, 
This news we willingly embrace; 
Wisdom and knowledge are two things, 
Wisdom is best because it brings 



56 The Words of Faith. 



Pure happiness and peace of mind, 
If it be of the holy kind. 

And those who holy wisdom love, 
She'll guide into the world above, 
New knowledge may extend our sight, 
And turn our darkness into light, 
And help us forward in the race, 
For worldly wisdom without grace. 

But God in Christ to know and love, 

Is holy wisdom from above; 

God out of Christ to us would be, 

Consuming fire eternally, 

Lord Jesus Christ, reign in my heart, 

Forbid that we should ever part, 

What to know and what not to know, 
Is an important question still, 
We may be happy if we know, 
Our holy Father's righteous will, 
And live in peace with God and man, 
According to the gospel plan. 

Eve thought it best for her to know 

What was.truly good and evil, 

That she might choose between the two, 

So she listen'd to the devil. 

This act obscur'd the living spark 

Of Deity within her heart. 

So when to know, would lead to sin, 

It is much better not to know; 

For when the devil reigns within, 

Our lives his cloven foot will show, 

Eve saw her nakedness and pride 

Constrain'd her from her God to hide. 

While floating down the stream of time, 

Toward the eternal ocean; 

Our thoughts and words and deeds combine, 

To settle our destination. 

According as our works shall be, 

The judge will render His decree. 

Those who have done the best they could, 

According to the light they had; 

Will be esteem'd by God as good. 

These faithful servants are made glad: 

And saved by Jesus Christ alone, 

Whose blood does for their sins atone. 



The Words of Faith. 57 

All kinds of thoughts pass through the mind, 

These various impressions make; 

And what we read of any kind, 

May pure or impure thoughts create; 

We should be careful then indeed, 

How we make choice of what to read. 

The world is tax'd to furnish news, 

To supply our daily papers; 

With which the Editors amuse. 

And sometimes deceive their readers, 

Concealed»truths and willful lies, 

Form a deceitful compromise. 

Our daily papers bring the news, 

Of murder, robberies and rape; 

And those who cheat men of their dues, 

In every church and every state; 

When all these thoughts pass through the mind, 

They leave their influence behind. 

PART II. 

Buzzards will on carrion feast, 
Some men enjoy a royal treat: 
On a stinking reputation, 
At the risk of their salvation. 
Some women too, are almost sure 
To read this obscene literature. 

So that they seldom ever fail 
These impure odors to inhale; 
Let none imagine we refuse, 
Every kind of printed news; 
For there is some which we esteem, 
When we believe it's true and clean. 



THOUGHTS FOR THE AFFLICTED. 

Oh! Let us raise into new life, 
And quit this mortal frame: 
In which we suffer day and night. 
With mosL distressing pain. 

Oh! Could we join our friends above. 

Who wait for us at home; 
And dwell with them in peace and love, 

Before our Savior's throne. 



58 The Words of Faith. 

There's nothing here to court our stay, 

But still we linger on, 
In a tottering house of clay; 

As joint heirs with God's Son, 

To the kingdom of His glory. 

Eternal life and bliss; 
When He makes us pure, and holy, 

In His own righteousness. 

Why should we mortal men complain, 

Who suffer for our sin: 
While in our bodies, we remain 

Till we are pure within. 

When the last trace of sin is fled. 

Pain will forever cease; 
And all the joys of Christ our head, 

Will come to our relief. 

Lord give us courage to endure, 

This necessary pain: 
Employed by Thee to make us pure, 

It will not prove in vain. 

These things are blessings in disguise, 

Could we but understand; 
They burst our fetters, help us rise, 

To Canaan's happy land. 

January 26. 190&, 



GRACE AND LOVE. 

A poem founded upon the following scriptures, the 47th and ten fol 
lowing verses of the 6th chapter of St. Jonn's Gospel, also the 11th and 
26th verses. Rev,, 2d and 17th verse. The 2nd of Cor., 4th and 5th 
verses. Please read these scriptures. 

\h\ boundless grace, amazing love, 
That brought Thee, Savior from above; 
Thy flesh indeed is food divine, 
Thy blood dear Lord, is heavenly wine; 
Sustained by these we can defy, 
The power of sin when called to die; 
And have the victory over death, 
When we have drawn our latest breath. 



o* 



The Words of Faith, 59 

Poor starving souls without this food, 

Are void of life, and light and good; 

For nothing can fill up the place, 

Of this atoning saving grace; 

Daily on Thee, by faith to feed, 

Is what eur higher natures need; 

This bread of life sent down from heav'n, 

Ever to our souls be given. 



All who by faith so feed on Thee, 

Eternal life will surely see; 

And Thou wilt raise them up at last, 

From nature's chain which held them fast; 

And set them upon'thrones on high. 

In glory worlds above the sky, 

Where they all cleans'd from every sin. 

Will drink immortal pleasures in. 

Lord let me ever dwell in Thee, 
And Thou dear Savior, reign in me; 
Thou do'st Thy life for sinners give, 
And those who trust in Thee will live; 
Safe from the second death in hell, 
With Jesus evermore to dwell; 
In union with God the Son, 
As He is with His Father one. 



This hidden manna we all need, 
To eat this blessed food indeed; 
And see our names in the white stone, 
Which only to us can be known: 
Jesus will break this stone in two, 
Keep part and give the rest to you: 
And when as our last judgeHe sits 
We'll find each part the other fits. 

When endsour pilgrimage beneath 
We worship at our Savior's feet; 
Exalted tothose thrones on high, 
Man's higher nature will not die; 
Our frail clay house will glide away 
As we soar to eternal day; 
Cloth'd in a spotless glory dress; 
Which is ©ur Savior's righteousness. 



60 The Words of Faith. 



Bold we appear before His Throne, 
And claim His kingdom for our home. 

Note:— This spotless glory dress is the wedding garment without 
which none ever find a home in heaven. Sept. 12, 1902. 



TFIE GOOD SHEPHERD. 

Glory adorns our Savior's face, 
The faithful shepherd of our race; 
Who condescends to feed His sheep, 
And all His flock in safety keep. 

Who know His voice and follow Him, 
Forsaking all the paths of sin, 
And some would even choose to die. 
Before they would their Lord deny 

Many christians of renown, 

Will doubtless wear the martyrs crown 

Millions more had they been tried, 

Would doubtless for their Lord have died. 

The shepherd brings into' His fold, 
His lambs and sheep both young and old; 
And there they safe protection find, 
For he is vigilant and'kind. 

He leads them forth from thence to feed, 
And 'supplies their every need: 
So that they may in graces grow, 
While He retains them here below. 

But He removes them in His love, 
To place them in His fold above; 
Where they will be forever free. 
From sorrow, death and misery. 



The Words of Faith. 61 

No sighs can mingle with the bliss. 
In the eternal happiness; 
Of those who do»acquitted stand, 
At our redeeming God's right hand. 

In that delightf ullhome above, 

Every soul is full of love; 

Where Jesus Christ our Lord do'th reign, 

There can be neither sin or pain. 

An impure thought cannot exist, 
Or tempting devil to resist, 
For demons nevermore can dwell, 
In any place but their own hell. 

No mitigation of their woe. 
Who to that dreary dungeon go; 
No songs can mingle with the sighs, 
Of him who in that prison cries. 

Feb'y 23, 1903. 



THE DESTINY OF MAN. 

Death's arrow hits the fatal mark, 
And stops the beating of the heart; 
And bears the slender cord away 
That binds the spirit to the clay. 

Man's spirit like his mortal breath 
Will leave his body at his death; 
God will its destinies control, 
And place it with his deathless soul. 

God's quickening word can soon divide, 
Our soul and spirit open wide; 
Then those alone can happy be, 
Who trust Lord Jesus Christ in Thee. 



62 The Words of Faith. 

Man's soul to Paradise will rise. 
And find its home above the skies; 
Or sink in the abyss of woe, 
No pleasure evermore to know. 

No medium state between these two, 
Exists for either me or you: 
This fa3t our serious thoughts employ, 
Is our state, misery or joy? 

God will condemn or justify, 
According- as we live and die; 
If we accept His proffer'd grace, 
We shall with joy behold His face, 



PART SECOND. 

The spirit is the body's life, 
And when this mortal body dies, 
It vanishes in nature's night, 
And to the spirit world it flies. 

How frail a thing is human life, 

It's like a bubble in the air, 

Which bursts and disappears from sight; 

Before a person is aware. 

Our bodies in the graves decay, 
We leave all earthly things behind; 
Our life and spirit pass away, 
And we consist of soul and mind, 

And in the twinkling of an eye, 
The solemn message may arrive, 
And we be call'd by it to die, 
While yet for precious life we strive. 

Lord Jesus Christ, be Thou our friend, 
Give us the victory over death, 
That we to heaven may ascend. 
When we resign our latest breath. 



Feb'y 24, 1903. 



The Words of Faith. 63 

ON THE LOSSES EXPERIENCED IN HUMAN 

LIFE. 

There is not a place, in the kingdom of grace, 
Where losses and woes no one ever knows; 
They always abound; and are everywhere found; 
For their destined place, is with our lost race, 
While journeying here between hope and fear. 
These things we shall find 'till we leave them behind; 
Where they had their birth with our] bodies on earth. 
In heaven alone, we shall find them unknown; 
When we arrive there'we shall all get a share 
Of purest delight with the angels of might; 
And not feel again, either losses or pain; 
But day without night we shall live in His sight; 
Who saved us from sin and has brought us within 
His heavenly home where distress is unknown: 
Our trifling losses, like our little crosses, 
We may sometimes and for our good are!designed 
But human life lost is at a great cost, 
It will so remain: be found never again: 
The all precious soul, if lost will control. 
The sad loser's state and seal its own fate 
Forever to dwell with lost souls in hell; 
To regions of woe it most surely will go; 
And stray without light in eternal death's night, 
Dying but not dead, with the vital spark fled. 
May we never be there with them to see; 
Or otherwise know their terrible woe. 

Nov 1, 1902. 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE HUMAN SOUL. 



The Human soul in ruin lies, 
But it eternity defies 
To rob it of its vital breath, 
Which is the Deity in man, 
But ruined by the devil's plan. 
Those who their days of grace despise. 
Out of this ruin never rise. 
Throughout eternity to come. 



64 The Words of Faith. 

Men have their choice between the two, 
According to the works they do. 
Of a last home wherein to dwell 
In heaven above or down in Hell. 
The sinner gets his choice at last, 
When every hope of change is past; 
And ventures with wide open eyes, 
To test the death that never dies. 



Dec. 29, 1900. 



HOW TO SECURE A FRIEND 
THAT STICKETH CLOSER THAN A BROTHER. 

Surrender and resignation, 
With a complete consecration 
Of the body, spirit and soul, 
In one complete and triune whole. 
Is the one work assigned to me. 
Before I can salvation see. 
This requires regeneration, 
Which involves a new creation; 
By nature, man is dark within. 
And dead, in trespasses and sin; 
He cannot see or understand. 
How to obey the great command; 
But when this mighty work ia done, 
The spirit and the bride say come. 
Perform the work, assigned to thee, 
And sure salvation thou shalt'see; 
If washed by Jesus every day, 
To purge thy sinful thoughts away. 
Then man loves God with all his hearl, 
And Christ from man will never part; 
While we through every day and hour, 
Realize the cleansing power 
Of Jesus Christ's atoning blood. 
Which purifies the Sons of God; 
God's holy love to us will cleave, 
Jesus will be a friend indeed: 
And the most precious friend in need. 
Man a new creature, then will be, 
In Jesus Christ from sin sets free. 



The Words of Faith. 65 

ST. LUKE, llTH AND 24TH VERSES. 

If in some secret distant place 

Excluded from the human race: 

Imprisoned in their future hell, 

Is where the unclean spirits dwell, 

When they vacate their house of clay. 

And fail to reach eternal day. 

How could they then so constant he, 

In tempting all mankind and me. 

For it canl never be denied, 

Theywait and'watch near by our side; 

To tempt and try to make us sin; 

In order that they may get in 

Within our hearts and rest awhile; 

From their vain and fruitless toil, 

Of seeking rest in places dry. 

For which they ever vainly sigh. 

If we admit them to our heart, 

From our dear Saviour we must part; 

They fortifyltheir citadel; 

And makcof it'a little hell. 

Until theyjare compell'd by Him, 

Who let them into'swine to swim 

Till swine were drown'd and fiends compell'd. 

To yield to destiny at last; 

When all their hopes of rest were past. 

Their search for rest they must renew, 

The flitting phantom still pursue, 

In arid space or places dry, 

For sweet relief they ever sigh. Feb. 15, 1902. 



HEAVEN OR HELL. 

Time with us will soon be ended, 
And we shall. with dust be blended; 
Excluded from this world of light, 
Enveloped in Death's endless night; 
Since we must like our Fathers go, 
Its well.Jenough for us to know, 
How its to be or not to be; 
With us when we are gone, you see. 
Of course our spirits will expire, 



66 The Words of Faith. 

And never feel fictitious fire, 
But sink into the earth: and rise 
As nought but gas into the skies- 
And millions more will join us there, 
And know nojwoe or joy or care. 
But in the endless deathbed's sleep 
They never more will get a peep 
Into the bustling scenes of life ; 
For they are hid by Death's dark night. 
We will not think of scenes like these, 
Such' doleful thoughts can never please 
But think that all our sorrows end, 
When with the earth our bodies blend. 



Dec, 21, 1900. 



A SINNER'S PRAYER. 

Lord Jesus while we pray attend, 
Thou art the sinner's only friend: 
In sin and darkness Lord to Thee, 
We come in abject misery, 

No other friend on earth below, 
Can make us see which way to go, 
Forgiveness and sweet peace to find, 
For we arejspiritually blind; 

No other friend can plead our cause, 
Before God's throne whose holy laws; 
We havcset shamefully at nought, 
And we against His reign have fought, 

Oh Father, turn thy pitying eye, 
On us thy creatures or.we die; 
For Thy dear Son's sake, Oh forgive 
For Jesus^died that we might live, 

We have no other plea beside, 

Thy Son, our Lord, was crucified; 

Oh let the comforter come down, 

And Christ's best work with glory crown, 

For Thoul dear Savior, in thy love, 
Dost plead for us thy precious blood; 
God's boundless mercy to awake, 
And justice spares us for Thy sake. 



The Words of Faith. 67 



And we are spared once more to meet, 
And bow in worship at Thy feet; 
Oh! Christ pour on us Spirit, 
Join us to Thy sovereign merit. 

Thy precious blood will flow in vain, 
And never will wash ouL the stain 
Of guilt; except by Him applied; 
We must remain unpurifled. 



THE CHRISTIAN'S HAPPY END. 

i. 

When we vacate, this house of clay. 
There's nothing left, to court our stay, 
We lay, our wearied bodies down, 
And grasp, the splendid glory crown. 

2. 
There's nothing, in this world of woe, 
To carry with us, when we go; 
Our treasure, is laid up above, 
In which, our hearts are fixed in love. 

We therefore gladly, step from time: 
And leave, its vanities behind; 
And into our possessions rise, 
Stored up by Christ above the skies. 

4. 
Jesus prepares our house above. 
Firm as bis own eternal love: 
Unlike our short lived house of clay 
Which will most certainly decay. 

5. 
But heavenly riches will endure, 
And will remain forever pure; 
Thieves cannot steal or rust destroy, 
The riches of our Father's joy. 

6. 
And in our Father's house above, 
The richest banquets of his love; 
Are to his children freely given, 
In his, ever blessed heaven. 



68 The Words of Faith. 

7. 

We know not Lord, when thou wilt come, 
To take our wearied spirits home; 
But whenever it may be, 
Prepare us Lord, thy face to see; 



And then,this most enchanting sight 
Will fill us with supreme delight 
To sing thy praises as we soar, 
To meet thy bride at heaven's door. 



Feb. 17, 1901. 



OLD TRUTH IN NEW RAIMENT. 
l. 

And it shall be, when I am gone; 
This mundane world shall still roll on, 
Bearing the living human race. 
In its fond motherly embrace; 
With all its busy scenes of life, 
And may be much of mortal strife; 

2. 

Yet all these things must have an end, 
And busy nature condescend; 
Her hidden secrets to reveal, 
And not again her truths conceal, 
Each new discovery shall disclose; 
Some higher truth, that no one knows, 
Which without fail will shed new light, 
On secrets hid in nature's night. 

3. 
When all at once old nature dies, 
And lurid flames obscure the skies; 
The great Archangel's trumpet's sound, 
Has raised the dead, tore up the ground, 
And burnt the old world up with fire; 
In her great final funeral pyre. 



The Words of Faith. 69 



4. 

And from its gases do'th arise, 

A bright new world into the skies; 

And now these somber scenes shall change, 

For God's immortal saints shall range; 

This grand new world, which shall be sure. 

For them forever to endure. 

5. 

And here shall be their happy home. 
Where storms and tempests are unknown. 
In the new heavens no clouds shall rise: 
To darken or obscure the skies; 
In them our Saviour God shall shine. 
With blissful rays of light Divine, 



Oh! what a blessed happy state, 
Doth every faithful saint await: 
When they with glorious bodies rise. 
To meet their Saviour in the skies: 
Who leads them forth to their new home, 
Through all its pleasant fields to roam. 

7. 
And drink eternal pleasures in, 
All free from sorrow, Death and Sin: 
While in the grave the body lies. 
The Soul in Paradise will rise; 
In holy joys, to us unknown; 
Before we reach our heavenly home. 



Though heirs to such a vast estate; 
The poor in spirit meekly wait, 
With christian patience in their woe, 
Since it's God's will, it should be so: 
Knowing that He, in holy love, 
So fits us here for joys above. 



And now may God, his grace impart; 
To raise our spirits, cheer our heart, 
And give us courage to sustain; 
And bear us up, above our pain, 
Until we sink in death's embrace 
Into new life; and see his face; 



70 The Words of Faith. 



10. 

Shining with Love, into the soul. 
Which makes the wounded spirit whole; 
While we rejoice, at last to find, 
We leave our sorrows all behind, 
And join with loved ones, gone before; 
Safe landed on the blissful shore. 

11. 

To taste of that immortal bliss. 
Which cannot, in a world like this; 
Be ever found by those who seek, 
To make their earthly joys complete; 
But through that blessed world above. 
Forever flows this bliss of love. 

12. 

The bliss so pure, of Love Divine, 
Shall there, in every creature shine; 
And all the blessed host above, 
Enjoy the bliss of mutual Love, 
The source of which to saints will be, 
My blessed Saviour died for me. 

13. 
And then in one grand song of praise, 
Their Hallelujahs loud they raise, 
Till Angels join the Sainted choir, 
And swell their songs of praises higher. 
This happy host shall feel; and see, 
God's holy loves immensity, 

14. 

Sink in the ocean of God's Love, 
Rise in that glory world above; 
To make their happiness complete. 
They cast their crowns at Jesus' feet; 
Love's fire, upon these altars burns, 
And thus to Christ its source returns. 

15. 

Then they again, their voices raise; 
In one triumphant, song of praise; 
Which echoes through, the vast domains, 
Of Him who now forever reigns. 

June 1900. 



The Words of Faith. 71 



THE GREAT COMFORTER. 

To the eternal three in one. 
Be high and equal honors done; 
Our Faith doth thee embrace. 
Before the Triune Deity, 
We bow in holy ecstasy; 
When saved through faith by Grace. 

2. 
Oh! thou great comforter divine, 
With thy inherant luster shine, 

In my benighted soul; 
The work is thine, the grace to give. 
Which makes a soul that's dead to live, 

The broken hearted whole. 

3. 

The Father gave, the Son is given; 
The way is open now to hea-ven, 

If thou within me shine; 
Move on the troubled waters move, 
Plant in my heart the Saviour's Love; 

And that will kindle mine. 

4. 

Thou with the Father and the Son, 
Our great Salvation work hast done; 
When Thou hast set thy seal, 
The all atoning blood applied, 
Shed when our Lord was crucified, 
Our leprous souls to heal. 



What can a sinner do oh! Lord, 
But trust in thy unfailing word; 
And plead thy promised aid. 
To help me back again to Him; 
Who died to save me from my sin. 
Whose blood my ransom paid. 

6. 
Without his life infused in me, 
I never can salvation see; 
My soulissdark within. 
Christ is the fountain of that light 
The Light that heals my inner sight; 
ADd guides me back to him. 



72 The Words of Faith. 



Come then Oh some Celestial Dove, 
And shed abroad the Saviour's Love; 
In my benighted soul; 
Thy hidden secret now reveal, 
Stamp on my soul thy quickening seal; 
And my new life control. 



Oh what are all the joys of Earth, 

To that which comes with the New Birth, 

That flows my God from thee, 

These vain: and visionary joys, 

The devil frequently employs, 

To hide these things from me. 

9. 
Forgive me, Holy Ghost forgive, 
Through thy forbearance, I still live; 
Oh! turn me not away. 
How often hast thou urged the plea, 
Give thy unworthy heart to me: 
And I will with thee stay: 

10, 
I'll stay to be thy source of Light, 
To Guide thee to eternal Life 
And be thy counselor; 
To save thee in tempetation's hour. 
From the dreadful tempter's power: 
And be thy comforter. 

11. 
My wonderous grace, so pure; and Free, 
I freely offer unto thee, 
Resist me not again, 
For if I take my final flight; 
And leave thee iu Eternal Night, 
There's none but thee to blame. 

12, 
How wretched then will be thy state, 
Thy doom is fixed, it is too late, 
To cry for mercy then, 
The Bridegroom comes; and in despair, 
Thou wouldest with thy neighbors share, 
The grace despised in them. 

June 12, 1900. 



The Words of Faith. 73 

CHRIST THE WAY. 

I am the Way, and I alone. 
The only Way, for sinners known, 
The only Way to sinners given: 
That leads from Death; and Hell to heaven. 

I am the Way, the truth Divine. 
Forever in this Way shall shine; 
Trust in the merit of My Blood; 
And Ye are linked by faith to God. 

I am the Way, the way Ye know, 
And if I to My Father go; 
For you a place I will prepare, 
That Ye may share My glory there. 

I am the Way: Satan may rage, 
And all his'hellish arts engage; 
But vain they shall forever he; 
To sink a soul that walks in me. 

I am the Way; and all shall find. 
Justice and love in Me combined, 
And power, and will and skill unite, 
To guide to realms of endless life. 

I am the Way, for I have trod, 
The winepress of the wrath of God: 
Free from the slightest stain of guilt, 
My precious blood for You I spilt; 

I am the Way. come walk in me, 
And sure salvation ye shall see; 
And in my glory to My face 
Shall praise me, for My Saving grace; 

I am the Way for truth Divine, 
Omnipotence: and grace are Mine 
Reject me and receive the Brand, 
The mark of those forever Damned. 



TRUTH. 

I am the Truth, The Truth shall live, 
Eternal life, to you I give: 
And Ye shall live, though Ye were dead, 
If found in Me Your sovereign head; 



74 The Wokds of Faith. 

In union bonds of loving- Trust; 

Is all I ask of helpless dust. 

Nor can a creature set aside, 

These bonds, which Sin tears open wide, 

I am the Truth, that Ye may see. 

The Prophets wrote and spoke of Me; 

With bright effulgence, holy light, 

The morning Star illumined their night, 

'Twas I that Tuned their sacred Lyre; 

And touched their Souls with hallowed Fire, 

Through future ages far away, 

They saw; and gloried in My day. 

I am the Truth, nor can it be, 

That one be lost, who Trusts in Me. 

The blood of which flowed, from victims slain. 

By Jewish Priests, was all in vain; 

But for my Sacrificial Blood. 

Which opens up, the way to God. 

In figures strong, it spake of this, 

And pointed out the way to Bliss. 



CHRIST THE LIFE. 

1am of Life, a boundless sea 
In union with the Deity; 
When through infinite realms of space, 
Nought save chaos found a place. 
Forth from the eternal fount I flowed 
The germ of Life, the LiviDg God. 
I am the Life, nor can a place, 
Throughout the boundless realms of space; 
Conceal from my omniscient eye, 
That pierces through Hell, earth and sky. 
Debt for my Life, to none I owe, 
I always was and will be so. 

Infinite springs of heavenly Light 
In me their origin unite 
The Sun of one eternal Day 
Whose beams its glorious self display. 
As Suns are seen by their own light 
On nothing hung in glory bright, 

I am the Life and when I will'd, 
I all my vast designs fulfilled, 
Angelic hosts obey'd my call, 
Receiv'd that Life I gave to all, 
And from that moment they conf esb'd; 
Themselves in me forever blest. 



The Words of Faith. 75 

I am the Life that ne'er began, 

Which grave itself to shelter man; 

I will'd the universe to be. 

Our glorious Sun and mighty sea; 

Andlo! from nought, were atoms hurl'd; 

And fragments first composed our world. 

Nor did this world exhaust my store, 
For Suns that never were before; 
Those mighty orbs bedecking space; 
And countless systems took the place. 
Assigned to them by me alone; 
While all around them is my Throne. 

I am the Life the living word 
I spoke and sleeping chaos heard; 
Obey'd my will which I made known; 
And spread itself before my throne 
Urged by the force of my own will; 
Each atom did its part fulfill. 

And creatures leaping forth from nought; 
Show'd what my mighty will had wrought, 
In anthems loud my praise they sang, 
Till heaven's courts with music rang; 
While I made known to them my plan. 
To crown my glorious works with man. 

The most important way in which Christ is the Life is clearly shown 
in the 1st, 6th and 9th verses of the 1st Chapter of John; and in the 7th 
verse of the 2d chapter of Genesis. Here we learn that Christ is the 
Life of Light that illuminates every man and imparts to him a living 
Soul. 



TRUST HIS LOVE. 

Infinite Love and boundless grace, 
Doth every sin sick soul embrace: 
That trusts in the atoning blood, 
That opens up the way to God; 

Help me, dear Lord, the fact to see, 
That thou hast tasted Death for me; 
Despairing of all hope beside; 
'Twasfor my sin my savior died. 



76 The Words of Faith. 

The priceless boon, I know is mine. 
Justice and mercy both combine; 
To set the captive sinner free. 
Who trusts in Jesus' death for me, 

Trusting he feels sweet peace within; 
For God he knows forgives his sin. 
By faith he'li seize the heavenly prize; 
And to a glorious hope arise. 



THE SOWER AND THE SEED SOWN. 

Many sowers are employed, 
And lots of seed is sown; 
Some spring up but are destroyed 
Ere to perfection come, 
Some in early life begin, 
To sow unto the flesh; 
And these early seeds of sin, 
Spring up and choke the rest. 
Perchance the seeds of grace took root, 
They soon wilt down and die: 
And those vile weeds will tower aloft, 
But not toward the sky; 
The sowers finds they did bad work; 
When sewing this base seed, 
To do was easy; but to undo 
Help from on high, they need. 



THE LANGUAGE OF FAITH. 

The God whom I trust is great, good and wise, 
The God whom I trust no mercy denies; 
The God whom I trust is faithful and true, 
Just to perform all He says He will do. 



The Words of Faith. 77 

The God whom I trust is the life giving way. 

My Sun; and defence by night and by day. 

The God whom I trust says He will provide; 

And I in His word sincerely confide. 

Let nations of men grow old and decay, 

And Suns to their systems fail to make day; 

Let all things save man to chaos he hurled, 

And no vestage left of this beautiful world; 

It's the rock of His word on which I depend, 

Which is sealed with the blood of Jesus my friend. 



THE CROSS. 

i. 

When I behold my dying Lord. 
Stretched on a Roman Cross for me: 
The sight doth all my thoughts absorb; 
And drown my spirit Lord in Thee 

2. 

In Thee alone is hid my life. 
My L®rd, my Saviour; and my God, 
From the vain scenes of worldly strife, 
For wealth, for honor; or for blood. 

3. 
In Thee my God, Oh! let me stay; 
Through all this dreary dream of life: 
And wrestle till the break of day, 
With foes and fears; and worldly strife, 

4. 
In age and feebleness extreme, 
This world can no relief afford 
But on that cross: for all my sin, 
The blood where sweet relief is stored 



Flow'd forth, that Life restoring blood 
Which lets us sinners into God. 
When troubled waters like a flood, 
Would overwhelm me, oh! my Lord, 



78 The Wokds of Faith. 



Then by thy help, I will abide, 
Safe sheltered in thy bleeding side; 
Till angels beckon me away. 
To see thy face in endless day. 



SAVING FAITH, IS PRODUCTIVE OF GOOD 
WORKS. 



The grace of God, has one sure mark, 
It saves the soul from sin: 
And then the mind, that was so dark, 
Gets heavenly light within. 

Pure Godly faith, in Christ our Lord. 

And holy works agree. 
A life conforming to His word, 

Proves Christ is formed in me, 

Without these works, our faith is dead, 
And will not lead to heaven; 

A body severed from its head, 
A loaf without the leaven. 



MANY ARE CALLED, BUT FEW CHOSEN. 

Many men, of many minds, 
Many fish, of many kinds; 
Some are in the Gospel net. 
Whom God's Spirit did beget. 



Some are there, but not to stay, 
They heard their call, would not obey; 
And so were not the chosen few, 
Who chose God's gracious will to do. 



The Words of Faith. 79 

TIME. 

God has, to every mortal given. 
A fragment of Eternity: 
A time, to shape himself for heaven, 
And work out, his own destiny. 

Some get a piece; hut very short, 
It soon runs out; and life is gone: 
And leaves the body in the dark, 
Its life extinct, its course is run. 



The soul is found, in Paradise, 
With infant spirits, it unites: 
To decorate, the crown of Christ, 
Which yields it, most supreme delight. 



But others get, a larger share. 
Of this inestimable Time: 
That they may themselves prepare, 
For higher joys in life Divine. 



The wise, will let their wisdom shine, 
By grasping moments as they pass; 
And so employ, their presious time, 
As to secure the prize at last. 



The foolish, care not how time flies, 
Are glad to see him hurry by, 
And do not care, how soon he dies, 
But when he's gone, in grief they sigh. 

Lord helpjis, to be wise and see, 
That we, do thankfully embrace: 
Our gracious opportunity, 
To use this talent of thy grace. 

And thus, prepare ourselves to see, 

When our time on Earth is fled; 

Thee in thy Glorious majesty, 

When we, are numbered with the dead. 



80 The Words of Faith. 

NATURAL DEATH WITHOUT TERROR. 



i. 



Oh grave, where is thy victory. 
Oh death, where is thy sting; 
Christ gives us immortality, 
And blots out all our sin. 



2. 



When from this house of mortal clay, 

Ruin'd alas by sin; 

We rise into eternal day, 

And Jesus takes us in. 



While looking upward as we soar. 
We see those whom we love; 
That left us and went on before. 
To welcome us above. 



And to our joy at last we find. 
The source of all our woe; 
Is with our bodies left behind, 
For Christ subdues our foe. 



Lo grim old death has lost his sting, 
And proves to us a friend: 
Since Christ has cancel'd all our sin. 
Death's triumphs ever end. 



6, 



And nobler powers will supply, 
The lack of senses lost; 
Which fit us for new life on high, 
At our Redeemer's cost. 



The Words of Faith. 81 

DEATH THE KING OF TERRORS. 
1. 

When the unpardoned sinner dies, 
His hope sinks with his breath: 
His soul, begins to realize, 
The awful, second death. 

2. 
He feels at last, his all is lost. 
And cannot be regained; 
The wealth which did his labor cost, 
Nowicannot be retained. 

3, 
No matter what his pleasures were. 
While living here on Earth: 
Alas he sinks, in sad despair, 
Of either ease; or mirth. 

4. 
His friends on Earth he can not warn, 
To shun his awful state; 
He feels, the horrors of alarm 
Lest they, enhance his fate. 

5. 
He sees the bliss, enjoyed by those. 
On Canaan's happy shore; 
He cannot join them but he knows: 
His fate f orevermore. 

6. 
He looks across the awful gulf, 
Which none, can ever pass: 
And cries to his tormented self. 
Alas! my Soul, Alas. 



THE INTERMEDIATE STATE OF THE DEAD, 
PREVIOUS TO THE RESURRECTION. 



The christian feels that he is safe, 
And all his woes are past, 
He can enjoy his happy state, 
With all his friends at last. 
2. 
The sinner feels his hope is fled. 

And sees himself, in hell; 
He knows, that with the wicked dead 
He must forever dwell. 



82 The Words of Faith. 



3. 
Jesus in Paradise will keep, 

The souls that live in him: 
Satan will tramp beneath his feet. 

His demons in their sin. 
4. 
And these two classes, now comprise, 

The host, of all the dead: 
The saints, whose bodies first arise. 

To meet, their living head. 
5. 
And then, the demons bodies raise. 

And are compelled, to meet; 
Him, they dispised in former days; 

Upon His Judgment seat. 



Jan. 25, 1901. 



THE! MOST IMPORTANT FACTS, STRIPPED 

OF FANCY AND FICTION EXPRESSED 

IN RHYME. 



We are redeemed with Jesus' blood, 
Spilt by the Living Son of God; 
Who for our sins was crucified, 
And nailed to the cross, he died. 
His blood for sin did once atone. 
And now for us before God's Throne: 
Our great High Priest enthroned in light, 
Which dazzles even angel's sight; 
Urges the all-prevailing plea, 
The virtue of my blood is free. 
For all who turn from sin to me. 
And trust in my atoning blood. 
That lets the sinner into God; 
Forever my rich blood retains 
It's power to cleanse the foulest stains, 
Of guilt in those it justifies, 
Whose faith produces holy lives. 
And justice sets the sinner Free, 
Who consecrates himself to me. 
And thus secures his endless Bliss 
With Jesus' blood and righteousness. 



The Wokds of Faith. 83 

GOD'S FEAST OF GOSPEL GRACE IS FREE. 

Come sinners, to the gospel feast, 
Jesus invites you all to come, 
He still sets on his mercy seat; 
And in his heart there still is room, 
To take repenting sinners in, 
Who are sincerely sick of sin. 

2. 

Come Holy Ghost, poor sinners draw, 
By thy almighty cord of love: 
Or they will never come at all, 
To Christ the fountain of all good; 
Convince them of their need of Him. 
Who died to save them from their sin. 

3. 

Come Father, Son and Holy Ghost, 
Thy Almighty Power we claim 
To save this vast rebellious host, 
From their sin's defiling stain: 
Reveal to them their Savior's love, 
And draw them to himself above, 

4. 
Let an almighty torrent role. 
Of our Redeemer's saving grace: 
Across this vast terrestialball; 
And in its healing flood embrace: 
Every ruined but precious soul, 
And make the sin sick sinners whole. 

5. 

Our Savior taught us all to say, 
Our Father let thy kingdom come; 
It is for this we still do pray, 
Oh let thy holy will be done, 
And all the people of the earth, 
Enjoy the bliss of the new birth. 

6. 
And then and not till then we'll see, 
The Kingdoms of this world restored 
To our Redeemer's Majesty, 
Who is their only rightful Lord; 
With righteousness, this earth will be 
Covered as water does the sea. 

Feb. 18. 1901, 



84 The Words of Faith. 

THE MYSTERY OF MAN. 

PART THE FIRST. 

Who first proposed the wondrous plan, 
In God's own image, to make man 
Body, Soul, Spirit, one in three; 
A triune creature, let him be. 
Who? but the Living Word, did this, 
The Lord, who is, our righteousness; 
He, of the dust, man's body made 
And thus his wondrous skill displayed, 
In its intricate, wondrous parts, 
Surpassing all our work in arts. 
He made man, a noble creature, 
Like Himself, in every feature, 
To govern: and to walk erect; 
And all His works on earth inspect, 
And be God's image, here on earth; 
Reflected by his Heavenly birth, 
When God begat into his frame, 
His Life; and Light, a living flame. 
Or spark; of His Divinity, 
To crown, this God-like mystery. Oct. 26, 1901. 



MAN A MYSTERY TO HIMSELF. 

PART THE SECOND. 

Man is a mystery to himself, 
Abounding in intrinsic wealth: 
The priceless spark of life divine, 
Which in his soul at first did shine, 
Exceeds the world's supply of gold, 
It's value never can be told; 
Nor can a creature be a man, 
Except by God's eternal plan, 
This living spark, of heavenly flame, 
Reveals to man, his secret name: 
Is incompatible, with sin, 
The two can never dwell within 
The soul of man; or human heart, 
If sin lives there this spark is dark; 
Though buried deep, in mammoth's mire, 
It's not extinct; nor yet in fire 
Where demons dwell in endless pain, 
And ever seek for rest in vain, 



The Words of Faith. 85 

Long as eternal ages roll. 

It dwells in the immortal soul 

By Him redeem'd. who first infused into our race 

That Life; and Light, so basely used. 

By mortals living in their sin, 

Who will not let their Lord come in 

To their unworthy hearts, to reign: 

And cleanse them from sin's guilty stain, 

And raise them to the highest plane, of moral rectitude. 



A CONVERSATION BETWEEN THE SKEPTIC 
AND CHRISTIAN ON THE WORD OF GOD. 



Methinks I hear some skeptic say, 
Could I but see the living word; 
And hear him say, I am the way 
Of which thou hast so often heard, 
Where sinners may from sin get free, 
Be happy while on earth they live: 
And after death, will find in me 
A friend to all eternity. 

If I could only see his face 

Like those who saw him when on earth, 

And witness his majestic grace 

Shining so clearly in his work; 

And hear his voice, so sweet, and high, 

In language I could understand: 

Echoing through both earth and sky: 

And see Him lift His mighty hand. 

Say to the tempest, Peace, be still; 

The wind and seas obey his will; 

It seems to me, I could believe, 

And Jesus Christ, as God, receive, 

Listen, skeptic, he calls thee now, 
Demands thy credence, to his word; 
Before the God, with reverence bow; 
Believe the truth, receive thy Lord, 
Who speaks through His inspired word; 
To living mortals here on earth. 
And we His voice have often heard 
But heedlessly: or thoughtless mirth: 
Paid no attention to His call; 
Refused to walk, with Him in White, 
And give to Him, our little all, 
To live rejoicing, in His light. 



86 The Words of Faith. 

No friend, with Jesus can compare, 

So full of sympathetic love; 

He came to earth, our griefs to share, 

And take us to His home above. 

Dare not to turn away from him, 

Receive Him as thy friend in need; 

Nought but His blood can cancel sin. 

Redeeming work He did indeed; 

But Christ, our Priest and King, now reigns, 

God's glorious, incarnate Son, 

Before His throne, our cause sustains, 

But He to us, His spirit gives, 

To support, protect and guide us 

While Christ, our Intercessor, lives 

Where He can the best befriend us. 

'Twas for our good that he withdrew, 

His human nature, from us here: 

To plead for us while passing through 

Our state of test; into His rest. 



Come, thou Sun, of heavenly day, 
Chase all our gloomy thoughts away: 
Thou fountain of eternal love. 
And fix our thoughts on things above. 
Come, touch our souls with hallow'd fire, 
Consume each base, and low desire, 
While we to earthly things attend. 
Be thou our close and bosom friend; 
Thy needed help, oh Lord bestow, 
That we may let these trifles go; 
When we resign, our fleeting breath, 
Our earthly ties, dissolve in deatb. 
But love or charity remains: 
And all its holy joy retains; 
While, in thy vineyard here below 
Shine on us Lord, that we may grow 
Up into Thee, our living head: 
And be to worldly trifles dead, 
Offspring «f David, and his root, 
Help us to bear Thee perfect fruit: 
And let it by its beauty prove 
That Thou dost warm us with Thy love. 
To Thy own eternal merit. 
The perfect fruits of Thy spirit 
Can only flourish in Thy light, 
And glow with beauty in Thy sight. 
Let love, and joy, in us be found: 



The Words of Faith. 87 

Peace, and long-suffering abound; 

Let gentle goodness, with strong faith 

Our meek and temperate lives embrace 

These graces should the lives adorn 

Of those into Thy kingdom born; 

Men may be poor in worldly wealth. 

Much like, our blessed Lord himself: 

Yet have vast wealth, laid up on high, 

Waiting for him, when called to die. Feb. 25, 1901, 



INFLUENCES OB 1 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

The mysterious spirit world 

Surrounds all human beings, 
Against our spirits they are hurl'd 

'Til they affect our dreams. 
2. 
With deeper interest in us 

These Spirits work away; 
That through our spirits they may thus 

Entice us to obey. 

3. 
They work in us, for good or bad, 

The dictates of their will; 
To make us happy, or else sad, 

Their purpose to fulfill. 
4. 
Good Spirits will, with good ones blend, 

In pure and holy love; 
And friend will never envy friend 

In the blest world above. 
5. 
Some may be high, and the others low, 

For ranks in glory rise: 
But none is ever found below, 

The rank he occupies. 
6. 
Bad Spirits will forever have, 

For love they cannot know: 
How dreadful then, must be their state, 

Where foe will envy foe. 
7. 
Some may not sink into the pit, 

So deep as others do ; 
But all will realize his fit, 

Justice should have its due. 



88 The Words of Faith. 



For thy sweet messengers of love, 

We ever thank Thee, Lord; 
Help us to rise, with them above, 

And join the Living Word. 
9. 
But the vile messengers of hell, 

We pray Thee to restrain; 
And let omnipotence compel 

These Spirits to abstain. 
10. 
From drawing people into sin: 

Against a God, so good, 
Who would have every one within 

The kingdom of his love 
11. 
But after death has fix'd our state, 

Fiends can no longer act; 
So as to fix our final fate, 

This is a blessed fact. Jan. 30, 1902. 



(Ephesians 6 and 12.) 

For we wrestle not against flesh; and blood, but against principalities, 

and powers etc, and against spiritual wickedness, in high places. 

THE CHRISTIAN WARFARE. 



While in the battle ground we fight, 
Against the powers of darkest night, 
Satanic legions throng the air, 
To tempt and try us everywhere. 

God help us, in this trying hour. 
To overcome the tempter's power: 
For all the hosts of hell combine, 
To rob our souls of Life divine. 

Protect us in this dreadful fight, 
'Til all Thy foes are put to flight; 
And our victory is complete, 
With all our foes beneath our feet. 

We'll place the praise where it belongs, 
And sing it with immortal tongues: 
Dear Saviour in eternal day 
When sin and death are fled away, 



The Words of Faith. 89 

The fallen angels and lost souls, 
Our great Immanuel controls; 
If we retain firm hold in Him, 
Hell's legions cannot make us sin. 

Their prince before Him must bow d#wn, 

And trembling, vanish at his frown; 

Satanic legions all give way, 

Before the orb of Heavenly day Feb. 17, 1902. 



REPENTANCE AND FAITH. 

To see our sin, and feel alarm, 
Lest the bewitching thing should harm 
Us in a future day; 
May be a step toward reform, 
Which certainly would do no harm. 

To see our sin, and turn away, 
In hatred, fear, and dread dismay 
From the deadly viper; 
That we have cherish'd in our breast, 
Is of the two, by far the best. 

But this, our debt will never pay, 
Or wipe the stain of guilt away 

For sins already past; 
The blood of Christ retracts the sting, 
And that alone, of human sin. 

Hear Jesus Christ, to sinners say, 
Who cease to sin. and turn away 

From all their wickedness— 
If you will put your trust in me, 
From sin, and guilt. I make you free. Feb. 17. 1902. 



JESUS PLEADS FOR US. 

When to my God, for help I cry, 
My Savior listens to my voice; 
If I in faith, on him rely, 
He makes my broken heart rejoice. 

For right before the throne of grace, 
He strips my prayer of all its flaws; 
And pleads before his Father's face, 
His blood, for sin against His laws. 



90 The Words of Faith. 

God's justice can demand no more; 
He grants the needed help to me 
I can above my troubles soar, 
And find sweet comfort, Lord in Thee. 

What tongue can tell; or mind conceive, 
The vastness of God's holy love; 
To those who in His Son believe, 
Whose treasure is laid up above. 

My Saviour for me will provide, 

Treasures, which this world cannot claim; 

Nor shall it ever more divide, 

My heart's affection for his name. Dec. 26, 190K 



THE ABSOLUTE NEED OF REGENERATION. 



Surrender: and resignation, 
With entire consecration 
Of both body, and the soul, 
In one complete and perfect whole, 
Is the one work assign'd to me, 
Before I can salvation see; 
To yield to God, His sovereign right 
To guide; and govern me aright; 
My body, spirit, soul, to give; 
With my Redeeming God to live, 
And dwell forever at His feet: 
Before His gracious, mercy seat, 
God stoops to the Incarnation, 
We rise in regeneration; 
Here alone God and man can meet. 
And make the union complete. 
His sons and daughters we become 
In our redeeming Lord, God's son; 
And God receives us in His love, 
And fits us for His house above. 
But we can never, never rise 
Into that house above the skies; 
Until our souls are born again 
Into Him, who for us was slain; 
We ever must in sin remain. Nov. 9, 1901. 



The Words of Faith. 91 

GOOD FRIDAY, MARCH 25, 1902. 

Pause my soul, adore, and wonder. 
See the earthquake, hear the thunder: 
The scenes presented to thy view, 
Have rent the Temple's veil in two. 
What means this horrid cry for blood 
They crucify the Son of God, 
For this vile mob of fiend like men, 
Thirst for that blood He gives for them, 
While for His murderers He prays, 
And to their ignorance, He lays 
The blame of this most awful deed, 
That ever man, or fiends, conceiv'd; 
For they our Saviour crucify, 
For Jew and Gentile both to die 
He shed His blood to cancel sin, 
That God, and man may meet in him. 
Well might the shining orb of day, 
Turn his glorious face away; 
Let solemn darkness reign supreme, 
On such a sad and awful scene; 
Yes, turn my soul thy ravish 'd eye, 
And see, for thee, thy Saviour die. 
For thee He left His happy home, 
And chose His cross before His throne; 
See from His feet, His hands, His head. 
Before our blessed Lord was dead— 
His precious blood, come flowing down, 
From wounds made by His cross and crown. 
While fighting with the powers of hell. 
Who can His awful sufferings tell; 
His God withdrew his smiling face, 
And left Him, in this dreadful place 
To make His victories complete, 
With all His foes beneath His feet. 
Jesus so full of love I see, 
While he reveals Himself to me; 
My thoughts are drawn to things above, 
And lost in his amazing love, 
My inner sight is made to see, 
My Saviour suffer'd this for me. 
If we reject such Love as this, 
And give to Christ the traitor's kiss, 
We sin against our dearest friend, 
And all our hopes for pardon end. 



92 The Words of Faith. 

ON THE SPIRITS OF TRUE CHRISTIANS 
AT THE DEATH OF THE BODY. 

With this world behind we soar 'til we find- 
Exceedingly high, far above the blue sky, 
Bright gems of renown, adorning the crown 
Of Jesus our Lord, as His righteous reward, 
For stooping so low in this world of woe, 
To raise them from sin, and then plant them in Him. 
They live in His sight, as trophies in light, 
Of His saving grace; for He gives them a place, 
With gems of the sky, which never can die. 
My soul canst thou see, to the bliss stor'd for thee; 
These beings of light, which dazzle our sight, 
Sprang up on this earth, and passed through the new birth, 
This earth bore the plant, and by a free grant, 
Of mercy and grace, they prepar'd for their place 
With Jesus at home; before His white throne, 
These beings so bright, now rejoice in His light. 
The fruit which they bear, thrives far better there, 
In that blessed place, where they see our Lord's face; 
And day without night, rejoice in His sight. 
In a clime so fair, there is no blighting air; 
Like diamonds they shine, with luster divine, 
No wonder if we are astonished to see, 
These gems of pure light, which dazzle our sight, 
In their blessed home at the foot of God's throne, 
Reflecting the light of our Jesus so bright, 
That angels will gaze in astonding amaze. 



CHRIST, THE FOUNTAIN OF LIGHT, LIFE 
AND BLISS. 

Fountain of Light, and Life, and Bliss, 

Source of infinite happiness. 

Rise in Thy majesty divine, 

And occupy this heart of mine. 

Grant me that light that I may see 

My way more clear to honor Thee; 

By resignation to Thy will, 

A passive agent, to lie still 

When call'd to suffer severe pain, 

Or plead with enemies in vain. 

Grant me that Life, which flows from Thee, 

Forever to abide in me; 

That I may prove the matchless bliss 



The Words of Faith. 93 

Of Thy infinite righteousness; 

Forever rising in my soul, 

Which all my ways of life control; 

And will display itself at last, 

When all the pains of death are past, 

Clad in Thy righteousness we soar, 

To glory worlds and Thee adore. April 17, 1902. 



HOLY BIBLE. 

Most Holy Bible, hook divine, 
Precious treasure, thou art mine; 
Mine to show me what I am, 
Mine to show me how I can 
Improve the moments as they fly: 
Secure the Life that will not die. 
And how to live at peace with God 
And thus avoid His chastening rod. 
To hold this sinful world at bay 
And walk in light from heavenly day, 
Close to our Saviour's bleeding side; 
And in this shelter ever hide; 
Where Satan cannot tempt to sin, 
Because we are with God shut in. April 18, 1902. 



THE PRODIGAL RETURNED. 

Jesus sought me until He found me. 
Wandering far away from Him; 
And He mourned in love to see, 
That I was living in my sin. 
A stranger to His saving grace. 
Void of His life and light, I stood, 
With no desire to see His face: 
Or taste the manner of His love; 
But He appeared unto my soul, 
As He appeared on Calvary; 
And, Oh! the sight my thoughts control, 
I live because he died for me. 
My Lord is full of grace; and love, 
When He reveals Himself to me; 
Mr heart is drawn to things above, 
My inner sight is made to see 
It was for me my Saviour died; 
The Son of God was crucified 
For me He sweat great drops of blood. 



94 The Wokds of Faith. 

His hands and feet were pierced for me; 

His wounded side gave forth that flood 

Which pays my debt eternally. 

Blessed Saviour, crowned once with thorns 

To save our lost and ruined race: 

We praise Thee with uplifted arms. 

For Thy atoning work of grace: 

Oh! let the ever cleansing flood, 

That flowed from Thy spear pierced side: 

The cleansing water and the blood, 

Be ever to our souls applied. Oct. 12, 1901. 



THE SHIELD OF FAITH. 

Faith's almighty power prevails, 
Where all our work completely fails 
To draw the blessing from above, 
Or to secure our Father's love. 
Oh, Lord! increase our faith in Thee, 
That we with joy Thy face may see, 

A cloud of witnesses agree, 
And prove the power of faith to be 
Irresistible and complete; 
The faithful suffer no defeat- 
Through ages past they all prevailed. 
And not a single one has failed. 

The shield of Faith, oh, Lord, supply 
To us, or in the fight we die; 
Blessed Saviour, hear our prayer, 
Be Thou with us everywhere; 
All through the battle ground of life, 
Oh, help us in this mortal strife. 

If we lack power, patience, skill, 

To do or suffer all Thy will; 

Wisdom to deal with friends or foes, 

So as in Thee to find repose: 

Wherein we all may safely dwell. 

And quench the fiery darts of hell. (Eph. 6 and 15.) 

Reposing on our Saviour's breast, 
And with His peace forever blest; 
We know this grace is always free, 
For those whose faith is true to Thee. 
But shaky faith can not believe, 
Therefore it cannot receive. 



The Words of Faith. 95 

For he who doubts Thy power to save, 

Is driven like a wind tossed wave; (James 1 and 6.) 

Into the sea of dread despair 

And may he lost forever there 

Give us, dear Lord, strong: faith in Thee, 

Until we reach eternity. Jan. 22, 1902. 



THE WINGS OF FAITH. 

Oh, for the wing's of Faith and Love, 
To soar from earth away; 
And join the happy ones above, 

In that eternal day. 
No sorrows there are ever known — 

No tears are ever shed! 
By Jesus, seated on His throne, 

His flock is ever fed. 
And the sweet manner of His love, 

Forever excludes serif e; 
And furnishes to saints above, 

An endless, happy life, 
Could we but stand upon the shore 

Of this old world of time. 
And view the glory kingdoms are 

So full of joys divine. 
Or could we see their happy state, 

Or taste their matchless bliss, 
We would need patience, then, to wait. 

In such a world as this. 
Give us the wings of Love to rise 

Above our trouble, Lord; 
And see with unclouded eyes, 

The crown of Life, reward. 
If it should be Thy blessed will, 

To grant us still more time: 
Hide us behind Thy cross until 

We can in glory shine. Jan, 23, 1902. 



FAITH, HOPE AND CHARITY. 

Faith, Hope, and Charity remains 
With pilgrims in their flight: 
But love its firmest hold retains 
When ends their mortal strife; 
Faith, hope, and charity remains, 
As sister graces three; 



96 The Words of Faith. 

But charity alone retain?, 

Its hold eternally, 

Faith and hope can no longer live, 

When we are called to die; 

But love, almighty love, will give 

Wings to our souls to fly: 

And cling to us before God's throne, 

To live, and love, and praise 

The great eternal three in one 

Through everlasting days. 

Oh! for a rich supply of love, 

That we may be like Thee; 

And always live way above 

Hatred and enmity. 

The world will sink beneath our feet, 

With all its noise and show; 

If our union is complete 

With Jesus here below. 

Resigned to all our suffering here, 

Like our great Living Head: 

How lovely, will his face appear, 

When all our foes are fled. January 25, 1902. 



ON THE DEATH OF A NEIGHBOR, DEC. 1900. 



Our friend; and neighbor disappears, 
His face, we'll see no more: 
Nor hear his voice, in mirthful cheers, 
To children round his door. 

His body dead, his spirit fled, 
Into the world unknown: 
To be by saints: or demons led, 
Unto its final home. 

We yield to God's, supreme decree, 
And die, at His command: 
And then we shall, Christ Jesus see, 
And in His presence stand. 

Rejoicing in His, holy love, 
Or shrinking from His eye: 
We'll spend eternity above, 
Or else forever die. 



The Words of Faith. 97 

THE GREAT FAMILY ABOVE AND BELOW. 
EPH. 3rd AND 15th. 

Thy children Fath«r worship Thee. 
The God that fills Eternity: 
Who sees our hope -. and knows our fears. 
Our secret thoughts, and joys, and tears. 
Thou Father of one family, 
In Time, and in Eternity: 
Thy Kingdom comprehends the two. 
None are excluded from thy view. 
Most surely thou will not forget. 
Those who are in the battle yet: 
But when to thee, for help they cry. 
To them be thou forever nigh. 
Help them to gird thy armor on, 
And fight the battles of thy Son: 
So as the victory to obtain, 
And leave his foes, at his feet slain. 
Display thy strength, in our weakness: 
And prove to all tbe completeness, 
Of thy almighty, saving grace, 
In filling us, to see thy face. 
Part of the family here below, 
Traveling through this world of woe. 
Are fit subjects, of our prayers, 
Because they are salvation's heirs. 
The other part, is gone before, 
Safe landed on the happy shore. 
For them we do not pray, but raise, 
Our thankfull songs, in grateful praise. 
Their battle's fought, their race is run, 
But the two families are one: 
And glory ends what grace begins. 
When Jesus saves us from our sins. 
Father thy children here on Earth, 
Are tried, and tempted from their birth: 
As soon as they are saved by grace, 
And start to run the christian race: 
Satan their efforts, then resists, 
Because their way, with his conflicts: 
If they wa-lk humbly, with their God. 
He's sure to spread, his snares abroad. 
To catch, to persecute; and tear, 
The christians, that he can ensnare. 
Thy promised blessing Lord, we crave, 
That he may not our soul enslave: 



98 The Words of Faith. 

But leave them free to love and pray, 

For those who take, our peace away: 

Thou canst satanic wrath restrain, 

Or let the devil work in vain, 

For any good it does to him, 

In driving people into sin. 

To purify thy church; for thee. 

These persecutions it must see: 

Father thy holy will be done, 

Let thy blessed kingdom come: 

Keep us from sin, for ever free, 

So shall our walk be close with Thee. January 15, 1902. 



The Words of Faith. 99 



ON INFANTILE JUSTIFICATION. 



A Few Thoughts on Infantile Justification and Its 
Consequences, Founded on the First of Corin-* 
thians, Fifteenth Chapter and Twenty-second 
Verse. 

Every one of these tiny little vessels, floating 
upon the sea of glory, is now and ever will be per- 
fectly full of bliss. If we go to the sea for water 
with a vessel no larger than a woman's sewing 
thimble we can fill it, but it contains but little. 
This little is, however, abundantly sufficient to make 
its recipient infinitely happy. And he whose vessel 
is as capacious, comparatively, as a thousand hogs- 
heads can fill it without diminishing the source 
whence he obtains his supply. Glory, glory. Then, 
Christians, expand your vessels by grace. 
Order is Heaven's first law, 

And this confest: 
Some are, and must be, 
Greater than the rest. 

But who infers from hence 
That such are happier, 
Shocks all common sense. 

— Pope. 
This is a broad and comprehensive subject, and 
it fully demonstrates the perfection of the great 
work of the atonement which Christ accomplished 
hy His life, death and resurrection. 



100 The Words of Faith 

First. We notice this is a perfect work; noth- 
ing is done that might have been omitted, i. e., no 
superfluous work; nor is anything left undone that 
was necessary to do to complete the reconciliation 
of a holy, just and offended God, with His rebel- 
lious creatures. Mark the words of the text: "For 
as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be 
made alive." Nothing can possibly be farther reach- 
ing in its effects on the human family, extending 
as it does from Adam down to the very last of his 
posterity, and proving that none can be finally lost 
for Adam's sin, and proving also the fact of infantile 
justification by the blood of Christ. Therefore all 
children who die in this condition are now, and 
forever will be, perfectly safe and infinitely happy, 
so far as their capacity for containing happiness 
permits. For David declares: "The fruit of the 
womb is our Lord's reward." 

Jesus saves all, without any exception, all who 
die in a state of infantile innocence. Mark the 
words of the inspired writer: "But sin is not im- 
puted when there is no law." Romans 5-13. Again, 
First Epistle of John, 3-4: "For sin is the trans- 
gression of the law." Either of these texts prove 
that God does not impute or charge sin to infants 
who have not passed the limit of infantile nonre- 
sponsibility. Just think of this. Countless millions 
die in this state, and not one of them is lost. There 
never was and never will be an infant in hell. 

Second. It is exceedingly comprehensive, inas- 
much as it includes not only infants, but also all 
the other members of the human family; and yet 



The Words of Faith. 101 

it does not prove universal salvation, but nega- 
tively it denies it, while it proves universal redemp- 
tion. The inspired writer penned the words of the 
text in connection with his explanation of the great 
doctrine of the Resurrection, and proved that as a 
necessary result of the resurrection of Christ the 
bodies of all human beings will be finally raised 
from the dead. Verse 23d of 15th of Romans: "But 
every man in his own order, Christ the first fruits," 
etc., etc. 

Jesus Christ, who is our ever living and officiat- 
ing High Priest before the throne of God, presents 
His own identical, resurrected, human body, which 
died upon a Roman cross in the presence of God, 
men and women, angels and devils, as the first fruits 
of the final and complete resurrection of the entire 
human family, and thus fully demonstrates His 
almighty power and ability to raise the bodies of 
the human family from the state of natural death, 
no matter how long Death may have had domin- 
ion over them ; he will finally be compelled to re- 
linquish his prey. For "there shall be a resurrec- 
tion both of the just and the unjust." But a con- 
siderable interval of time will elapse between the 
two. When the limit of infantile nonresponsibility 
is reached (which is known only to God, as no 
certain age is, or can be, fixed to determine it) 
then that individual is held responsible for his words 
and actions in the sight of God, and not till then. 
And this responsibility is. in exact proportion to 
the light and privileges he or she is favored with. 
Now, hear the words of inspiration on this point: 



102 The Words of Faith 

"There is none righteous, no, not one, for all have 
sinned and come short of the glory of God." That 
is, none who have outlived their infantile nonre- 
sponsibility can be justified in the sight of God on 
the ground of a perfect obedience to a perfectly 
holy law. Inspiration declares there is not so much 
as one. 

But "Blessed be God," inspiration also declares ; 
"The just shall live by Faith." That is, by a per- 
sonal trust in Christ, for justification in the sight 
of God on the ground of Christ's righteousness com- 
bined with His blood and death, which He shed 
and suffered for me, and not on the ground of my 
life or obedience to God's law, which at the best 
are, in God's sight, full of sin and imperfection. 
That is, having been slain by the law, which serves 
as a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, they shall 
be raised into spiritual life and union with God 
by this justifying faith in Christ, Who alone can 
save, not only infants, but also all who have out- 
lived their infantile nonresponsibility. Therefore, 
those who chose their own ways, rather than God's 
ways, can never be saved. For Jesus tells 'us : He 
is the way, the truth and the life, and He is in the 
Father, and the Father in Him. 

Moreover, He declares : If any man will be my 
disciple, let him deny himself, take up his cross 
daily and follow me. But if they love their own 
ways and sins better than God's ways, they never 
will come to Jesus and trust in Him ; never in hum- 
ble but justifying faith, which is indispensably neces- 
sary to form and cement the union between the 



The Words of Faith. 103 

Son of God and themselves, as the branch is united 
to the vine, and therefore they never can be saved. 
It is no little thing to be a Christian, but remember, 
infinitely better, that we had never had the gos- 
pel than having it to slight, neglect or reject its 
gracious invitations. 

In conclusion, there are a few thoughts in rela- 
tion to this subject which I wish to communicate 
because it is greatly to our interest to keep them 
prominently before our minds. 

First. Think of the vastness of that perpetual 
stream of infantile spirits, which is constantly 
swelling the glories of our Redeemer's kingdom. 
It extends from Adam to the very last of his pos- 
terity, throughout all the ages of Time. It com- 
prehends all classes of the human family. 

In all parts of the world it represents the most 
depraved, ignorant and barbarous savages; also all 
civilized and enlightened Christian nations. From 
the Esquimaux Indian of the North to the Patigo- 
nian and the Tierradelfuegoans of the extreme 
South in America. From Egypt and Algiers in 
the North to the Cape of Good Hope in the south 
of darkest Africa. From Japan, in the extreme east 
of Asia, to Iceland in the west of Europe, and from 
all the islands of all the seas in the world, they 
come. They come, a mighty phalanx, a never-ceas- 
ing, but ever flowing stream of infantile spirits, 
justified in the sight of God by the blood of Jesus 
Christ, His Son. They come from heathen, pagan, 
infidel, nominal Christian and true Christian par- 
entage. From all the Christian societies or self- 



104 The Words of Faith. 

styled churches, and all outside of these societies. 
What a comforting thought this is to the bereaved 
Christian parent. My dear child is gone to be with 
Jesus. Oh, how sweet the thought, to be forever 
free and safe from sin and pain and death. Another 
diadem to bedeck His crown of many, many, many 
stars. 

Their coming is . fulfilling God's promise to 
Abraham, Genesis 22nd and middle clause of 17th 
verse. 

The second thought is very different from this, 
and proves that these texts, taken together, afford 
no consolation to the Universalist. But are fraught 
on incontrovertible fact, namely, that infantile justi- 
fication is abundantly proved by both the Old and 
New Testament. This being true, it follows as a 
necessary consequence that every human being is, 
in the first stages of his existence (after his natural 
birth), in a justified condition in the sight of God 
and that none will ever be punished, either nega- 
tively or positively for Adam's sin, neither excluded 
from Heaven or shut up in hell. But the condemna- 
tion will be light is come into the world. But you 
rejected it. In the case of the heathen the internal 
light of conscience ; in the case of Christians the light 
of revelation in addition to conscience; also in the 
case of the Jews, before the incarnation of Christ, 
who enjoyed a partial revelation. Under the head 
of the heathen may be included some of those 
blinded by the infernal smoke of Mohammedism, 
The heathen, who regards not the dictates of his 
conscience and thereby resists the strivings of God's 



The Words of Faith. 105 

Holy Spirit, for there is a measure of the spirit 
given unto all men, and the conscience is the med- 
ium He uses in their case, and except they repent 
will go down into the grave under the cloud of self 
condemnation. But the thickness of that cloud will 
bear no proportion to the cloud of Divine wrath 
which will overwhelm the sinner who rejects or 
neglects the invitation of the Gospel ; terrible 
thought what is the condition of the Christless pro- 
fessor in hell? Ans. He sees clearly then, that he 
was redeemed, and at one time of his earthly life, 
justified, but refusing to surrender himself to Him 
who redeemed him, he is now lost forever, and the 
worst of all is he did the awful deed himself. For 
God entreated him in every possible way to turn 
from his sins and to trust in Jesus Christ for Salva- 
tion. Repent of and forsake sin, and trust in Jesus 
for forgiveness of the same is the Divine order. 
Recapitulation — Condensed. 

This subject Divides Itself into Three Distinct 
heads, each of which is the necessary and certain 
result of the same cause, which cause is to be found 
in man's fall from innocence in Adam and his re- 
demption by Jesus Christ. 

First. — In relation to the resurrection of our 
natural bodies from the dead, this result is absolute 
and unconditional, that is, nothing that we con do, or 
leave undone, can possibly prevent it or change it, 
for in the fall of Adam the seeds of mortality were 
sown by Satan in the fountain head of the human 
family and the inevitable result is that by nature 
death obtained dominion over all the sons and 



106 The Words of Faith. 

daughters of Adam and "it is appointed unto all 
men once to die." 

But the power of Jesus to imbue with new and 
immortal life far transcends Satan's power to kill, 
no matter how long death may have had dominion 
over the natural body when Christ commissions His 
arch Angel to sound the trump of God, he will be 
compelled to relinquish his prey and Christ will of 
the identical material, which entered into the com- 
position of that body, form a new spiritual body, so 
that it will be really the same body, but wonderfully 
changed in its organic construction ; the mortal will 
be raised immortal, and perfectly adapted to all the 
circumstances and surroundings of its future exist- 
ence, whether it be happy or miserable. He who 
dies in Christ will as the result of his union with 
Him, enjoy eternal life in Heaven. But out of 
Christ, or in an unjustified state under the economy 
of either the Law or the Gospel, he will still be 
raised immortal or incapable of death, but will be 
driven from the presence of God into outer darkness 
and will never enter into eternal life, for this eternal 
life is to be found only in the Son of God. "In Him 
was Life/' etc. Note eternal life, which literally in- 
terpreted, means life without beginning or end, and 
this is in Christ alone, for Christ is God, but He 
communicates this glorious life to all the justified. 
And this eternal life is a very different thing to 
immortality, which only means without end. Some 
of the changes which will be effected in the new 
body are implied by these texts of scripture. First 
it will be a spiritual body. St. Paul says : "Meats 



The Words of Faith 107 

for the belly and the belly for meats ; but God shall 
destroy both it and them. ,, Again, flesh and blood 
cannot inherit the kingdom of God. 

Again, Jesus says : "In Heaven they neither 
marry, nor are given in marriage/' so we see the 
new body will not be furnished with any of the 
organs necessary for eating, drinking or marriage, 
but will be perfectly adapted to the higher or lower 
plane which it is fitted to occupy. 

Second. — The same cause, that produced the 
impregnation of the fountain head of the human 
family with the seeds of mortality which finally re- 
sults in the natural death of the body, affects also 
the death of the God-like spiritual nature of man, 
hence the need of its being. Begotten again by 
the Holy Ghost to effect the restoration of that 
spiritual life. "So in Christ shall all be made alive." 
And the same Christ restores this- spiritual life by 
His own quickening spirit. 

Now these self evident facts necessarily in- 
volve Infantile Justification, which, like the fact 
of the universal resurection of the material body of 
man, is absolute and unconditional, for facts are im- 
mutable. Thank God this is so. 

But Third. — Those who pass the point of in- 
fantile justification are placed in very different cir- 
cumstances to infants; and their present justifica- 
tion and final salvation are both conditional and de- 
pend entirely upon their conformation or their non- 
conformation to the Divine Law of that Dispensa- 
tion in which they lived. "For there is a manifesta- 
tion of the Spirit given unto every man." This 



108 The Words of Faith. 

proves that the heathen are eligible to salvation. 
Therefore, this class includes all who are account- 
able in the sight of God for their words and actions. 
Heathen or pagan Jews under the Mosaic dispensa- 
tion and Christians of all names and denominations. 
Now God speaking of this class who are under the 
Law, says : "There is none righteous ; no not one." 
All, both Jew and gentile, are under the condemna- 
tion of a broken Law, guilty. That they may be 
saved by God's free grace in the gift of His son. 
Question. How can these persons avail themselves 
of the gift. Answer. By repentance; and if favored 
with the light of divine revelation, repentance first 
and faith in the revealed word of God in the case 
of the Christian, "The just shall live by faith." Justi- 
fying faith cements the union between Christ and 
the penitent sinner who trusts in Jesus Christ. 

Repent and believe the gospel or trust in 
Jesus for the forgiveness of sins, that are past, is the 
divine order. The reverse of this order, or believe 
and repent, promulgated by some professing 
disciples of Christ to the contrary notwithstanding. 

It is, however, granted that there must be a 
nominal faith to work repentance, for a man must 
believe he is a sinner before he can feel the burden 
of his sins, and he must feel this before he will seek 
relief in Christ. This is all right as far as it goes, for 
it works repentance (and if this repentance leads 
to turning away from sin and giving it up, it will 
be) unto life eternal to that soul who throws itself 
upon God's mercy in Christ by a humble trust or 
faith in Christ, for the forgiveness of my own per- 



The Words of Faith. 109 

sonal sins, and any faith short of this last named 
faith is not justifying in the sight of God. A mere 
nominal faith that Jesus Christ is the Son of God 
never united any soul to Christ and never will lead 
to salvation if it stops at this. Devils and wicked 
men who are all enemies to God go this far, but 
this faith works no change in their condition, and 
as to baptism, the baptism of the Holy Ghost, saves 
and introduces into the true Christian church, and 
this baptism is the result of justifying faith in 
Christ. 



110 The Words of Faith. 



UNION OF THE DEITY WITH HUMANITY 
IN JESUS CHRIST. 



Remarks on the Sixth Verse of the Fifth Chapter of 
the First Epistle of St. John. 

This is He that came by water and blood, even 
Jesus Christ, not by water only but by water and 
blood. And it is the spirit that beareth witness, be- 
cause the spirit is truth. 

He, the incarnate God, Immanuel, that came by 
water and blood, so that he is a real and perfect 
human being, or man, and this same man, Jesus 
Christ, is so imbued with divinity and absorbed by 
the very essence of Deity, that he who saw Him 
while on earth in His human nature, saw God, the 
Father. For he made Himself of no reputation 
and took upon Him the form of a servant and was 
made in the likeness of men; and yet being in the 
form of God Tie thought it not robbery to be equal 
with God. Oh, what wonderful humiliation and 
love and all to save our souls from hell, and will 
ye reject such love and choose death rather than 
life, procured by the blood of such a dear friend as 
Jesus, and offered to you free gratis. Yes you will, 
except you turn from your sins and forsake them 
and trust in Jesus to clothe you with His righteous- 
ness; for He, the only begotten of the Father, full 
of grace and truth is the Christ or the anointed of 
the Father to give Himself for a voluntary, vicar- 



The Words of Faith. Ill 

ious sacrifice for the sins of mankind. He, the only 
begotten (Son of God) came by water and blood. 
This proves He came into the world by the process 
of a natural birth, and is a real man, and this fact 
is confirmed by the witness of men, which witness 
we receive. But the witness of God is greater than 
the witness of men ; and this is God's witness. "This 
is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased," 
the third chapter of St. Math, and seventeenth 
verse. And to these facts, relating to the true na- 
ture of Jesus Christ, the three persons of the God- 
head, to-wit: The Father, the (word or Son), and 
the Holy Ghost, bear record in Heaven ; for the 
word in His human nature is no longer with us on 
earth (but the Holy Ghost is), and these three are 
one, that is one God. 

And the baptismal water by which we are re- 
ceived into the visible church on earth, and which 
is a sign or symbol of the cleansing influences of 
the blood of Christ when applied by the Spirit in 
Holy Ghost, baptism to the guilty soul of the peni- 
tent sinner. 

Now the water and the blood which flowed 
from the wounded side of the Son of God and the 
supernatural manifestations of God's justice and 
power at that time and place all agree to establish 
the same fact. And this fact is, that Jesus Christ, 
is a real man, and yet He is the real Son of the only 
true and eternal God, and that He actually died 
upon a Roman cross, a vicarious and voluntary sac- 
rifice for the sins of the whole human family; but 
being so imbued with or enshrined in Divinity or 



112 The Words of Faith. 

Deity it was impossible for death to retain his hold 
on Him after the purposes for which He died were 
accomplished, so He rose, His own body, triumph- 
antly from the grave, and became the first fruits of 
them that sleep the sleep of death ; and in His 
victorious spiritual body he ever lives, our great in- 
terceding and atoning High Priest and sacrifice. In 
Heaven, Amen. Thank God. 

Remarks: It is known to most Bibical schol- 
ars that this seventh verse has been the subject of 
much controversy ; also the last clause of the eighth 
verse. I see it is omitted in about 8 or i.o MSS and 
cited in about 15 or over, some of which are ac- 
counted the most correct, and they are the most 
ancient MSS. But the facts recorded are certain 
and sure. "God was in Christ, reconciling the world 
unto Himself in the great work of the atonement. 
I regard this truth as the foundation of Christianity. 
Destroy this foundation and you have nothing left 
but a human sacrifice which is inadequate to the 
demand of an infinitely holy law, that man had 
transgressed. 



The Words of Faith. 113 



ON THE DIGNITY AND CONDESCENSION 
OF CHRIST. 



The Restoration of Man and Irrecoverable Fall of 
Angels. — A Few Observations on the Sixteenth 
Verse of the Second Chapter of Hebrews. 

Paul, speaking of Christ, says: "For verily He 
took not on Him the nature of Angels, but He took 
on Him the seed of Abraham. " That is to say 
Jesus Christ, being by His own inherent right of 
progenitorship, equal with God, the Eternal Father, 
and thus highly exalted above all created beings, 
even Angels did not take upon himself the nature 
of Angels, but He took man's nature, who was a 
step lower than Angels, notwithstanding some of 
the Angels were fallen and in a ruined condition, He 
passed by them to redeem man. 

Possibly fallen Angels had no outside agency 
brought to bear on them to tempt them to sin, and 
this may have been one reason why the Son of God 
pursued the course He did in relation to this matter. 
God never does anything without a just reason for 
His act, (this reason is, however, known only to 
himself), but it is certain that it was a love of pity 
and not a love of complacency which prompted Him 
to redeem man from his fallen and ruined condition, 
for He witnessed the whole procedure of man's 
temptation by His inveterate enemy, the devil, in the 
Garden of Eden. He saw His lovely, innocent crea- 



114: The Words of Faith. 

ture assailed by His own terrible foe and the sight 
moved His pitying love, and this moved His al- 
mighty power and from His shining throne above 
He flew to our relief. So that the devil not only 
sinned himself but was the means of leading man 
into sin. But how came satan to be such an enemy 
to God? For God made him; yes, but He made 
him an Angel and not a devil. As far as Angels 
and men are concerned it is certain that God placed 
both Angels and men in a state of probation, or 
trial, under a specific law and command, with full 
power to obey or transgress and what creature 
dares to question His sovereign right so to do. But 
we learn from inspiration, to-wit : Rev. twelfth and 
seventh verse. That there was war in Heaven. 
Now it was undoubtedly in allusion to this circum- 
stance that our Saviour refers in talking to his 
disciples whe nthey said, "Lord, even the devils are 
subject unto us, through Thy name.' 7 And Jesus 
said : "I behold Satan as lightning fall from 
Heaven." Luke, 10:17 and 18 verses. 

I have no doubt but the very same being who 
under the title of Michael, the archangel, fought 
with Lucifer, the son of the Morning (that is the 
morning of creation), but who is now the prince of 
power (or legion) of the air that surrounds our 
world. The spirit that controls the sinner, the 
devil, I say the very same general who on that occa- 
sion led the armies of Heaven to victory over Satan 
and his host, is now the captain of our salvation. 
Thus we see that half as many Angels rebelled 
against God as remained faithful in their allegience 



The Words of Faith. 115 

to Him. And this one-third of Heaven's inhab- 
itants were by the Son of God, hurled over the 
battlements of Heaven into outer darkness forever 
excluded from the light and presence of God, and all 
this took place long before the world we now live 
in assumed its present form ; but while it consisted 
of a conglomerated mass of material of which it is 
now composed, entirely surrounded by a dense 
cloud of smoke and steam or vapor, which com- 
pletely prevented the passage of a single ray of 
light. Now the fallen Angels came in contact with 
this mass when passing like lightning through the 
boundless realms of space, and found in this mass 
of fire, water and all other material of which our 
planet was composed a very suitable abode for 
fallen and unhappy spirits, and it appears that after 
the change wrought by God in the first five days 
or rather indefinate periods of time. For remember, 
then there was no sun visible to make days, such 
as ours now are. I say after the first five days of 
creation, before God made man, which He did in 
the evening of the sixth day, Satan and a part of 
His host took up their abode in the atmosphere sur- 
rounding our world. For their prince was present 
to tempt Eve in the Garden of Eden very soon after 
she was made. How it must have wrought up the 
inherent malice of Satan when he saw the beautiful 
creatures God had made and the beautiful garden 
he had placed them in and contrasted their condi- 
tion with his own. You say, How do you know all 
this? I answer: I find it all plainly recorded in the 
first chapter of the book of Genesis, which God 



116 The Words of Faith. 

must have revealed to the writer, probably Moses, 
while on the mount 40 days. For there was not a 
man living to witness the creation. But the witness 
of God is greater than the witness of man. This 
subject, when studied under the influences of the 
Holy Ghost, can scarcely fail to produce sentiments 
of humble adoration, of fervent and sincere love 
and entire confidence in our souls toward our great 
Deliverer. In fact all these graces or gifts of God, 
and many others, will certainly result to us, being 
made sure by the immutable promises of God him- 
self, while we exercise justifying faith in his Son 
our Saviour. Our first impression is the dignity of 
the person of Christ. I refer you to the first chapter 
of St. Paul's epistle to the Hebrews which effect- 
ually proves His infinite superiority to Angels; in 
fact His Godhead for it proclaims Him to be the 
creator of the Heavens and the earth which includes 
the whole of the stellar universe. Poor, weak 
Christians, that omnipotent arm of Deity, is en- 
tirely able to sustain and protect you, lean upon it. 
Oh, lean upon it always, but especially in times of 
danger, temptation, pain and trials. 

Our second impression is the wonderful con- 
descension and love of this august being. 
Oh, for this love, let rocks and hills 

Their lasting silence break, 
And all harmonious human tongues, 
The Saviour's praises speak. 

The love of God in the entire work of Redemp- 
tion, necessarily transcends the utmost stretch of 
human thought, for it partakes of His own nature,. 



The Words of Faith. 117 

it is His darling attribute; God's love, like Him- 
self, is a fathomless abyss, an ocean without bottom 
or shore. But please do not forget that while His 
justice is His strange work, it balances with His 
love in the person of His dearly beloved Son, while 
that son hung upon the cross for our sins. Just 
here I would make an appeal to the unregenerated, 
and to all those who seem to care for nothing more 
than church membership and rest with a nominal 
profession of Christianity in connection with what 
they imagine to be the visible church, but which is 
in reality a society of professing Christians. These 
churches or societies are represented by the net 
in our Lord's parable which contained both bad 
and good fishes, and the bad fishes are those con- 
tented with the name of being united with them, 
no matter by what name these societies may be 
called by others, or by what name they may choose 
to call themselves; these things will make no dif- 
ference in the final decision of the Son of God. They 
may say, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied or 
taught in Thy name and in Thy name cast out 
devils, and done many wonderful works. But Jesus 
will say I know you not, for I see you do not reflect 
my image, but the exact likeness of your Father, the 
devil, because ye have not been begotten again or 
born of the spirit into my kingdom, and his servants 
ye are whose works ye do, go ye therefore unto the 
generation of your fathers, they shall never see 
light. Now depart from me, ye cursed, into ever- 
lasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. 
This is the truth and nothing but the truth, and 



118 The Words of Faith. 

it is at our peril that we conceal or hide it for it is 
the inevitable consequence of rejecting such love 
as this. 

One remark more and I will dismiss the sub- 
ject, leaving it with you. 

Those whom we love the best we generally 
treat in such a way, if possible, as to secure and 
retain their love, sometimes, however, our love is 
not reciprocated and oh, how bad we feel, and can 
we be so ungrateful to our most loving friend as to 
withhold our affections from him who died in our 
stead, that we might not suffer eternal death, but 
have eternal life in him. Yes we can and do, as 
long as we are contented to remain in an unregen- 
erated state. Moreover those we love the best, we 
think about the most, and thoughts lead to words 
generally. What shall we then think of those pro- 
fessors, who scarcely ever name the name of Jesus, 
they can talk about anybody and everybody but 
Him, or what shall we think of those congrega- 
tions who can go to church and after perhaps mak- 
ing some remarks on the speake's talents, have noth- 
ing more to say on the subject of religion but at 
once begin to talk about the weather, business, 
politics or somebody's foolishness or misfortune. 



The Words of Faith. 119 



ON THE DEPTH OF HUMAN DEPRAVITY. 



And the Divine Plan of Rescuing Man From His 
Fallen Condition. — The Fortieth Psalm and 
First Three Verses. 

In dealing with this subject we shall endeavor, 
as much as possible, to avoid all superfluous lan- 
guage, and to come in the shortest and most effec- 
tive way to the truth that our ability will permit, 
and may that truth, under the guidance and influ- 
ences of the Holy Ghost be made a lasting blessing 
to our souls. All the glory shall be ascribed to our 
great Redeemer, for the vault in which this treas- 
ure is deposited is indeed a very weak earthen one. 
David in the language of the text borrows a figure 
from a very painful incident in his life, namely his 
taking refuge in a cave when pursued by Saul, and 
he uses this circumstance as a figure to represent 
his terrible condition in the sight of God as a sinner 
after his fall in the matter of Uriah the Hittite, and 
he gives a full description of his spiritual condition 
at that time in the 38th Psalm. This figure, how- 
ever, represents him as a penitent sinner, and in this 
condition he said : I waited patiently for the Lord. 
Patience and importunity in cases of this kind are 
inseparable and indispensable. 

The unfortunate widow was very patient and 
she was successful. The penitent sinner should re- 
member this and act accordingly. Poor sinner, 



120 The Words of Faith. 

don't give up the plea, Jesus, thou hast died for me. 
Press it home to the great heart of God, and trust 
in his atoning blood. Make a clean surrender of 
your body and soul, time, talents and affections to 
the redeemer, and He is yours and in Him eternal 
life, glory. Waited patiently for the Lord, and He 
inclined unto me. See the results of patient perse- 
verance. What stupendous mercy and wonderful 
condescention in God is illustrated by this figure. 
Just think of it, the figure is taken from two persons 
in conversation, surrounded by a tumultuous con- 
course of people, and one bends over and inclines 
his ear to listen to what the other has to say. And 
will the Holy God listen to the cry of the sinner? 
Yes, indeed He will if he is penitent, for He heard 
David's cry. But remember it was a real cry, not 
a careless indifferent request. Illustration : Just 
suppose two men come to you to ask relief. One 
of them gave you to understand in a very ostenta- 
tious manner and with many assumed airs, that 
having more important business to attend to he had 
but a short time to spend with you, but if you saw 
fit to give him a trifle he would condescend to re- 
ceive it. In like manner prays the worldling. The 
other man, whose destitution was plainly visible, 
came with tears running down his cheeks and 
trembling with helpless weakness and emotion, 
begged for a morsel of bread to sustain for a brief 
period that life, which was fast ebbing out. 

Would you not certainly reject the former and 
relieve the latter. Just so in the case of God's 
dealings with sinners. Cry, denote the humble and 



The Words of Faith. 121 

sincere request of a sin-sick soul, that comes 
crushed into penitence by the load of all his sins on 
his guilty conscience and pleads the blood of Christ 
at the foot of His cross for mercy. But God not 
only heard David's cry but He granted his request 
by bringing him up out of the horrible pit and out 
of the miry clay. This figure is a fine illustration of 
the condition of all those who are under the con- 
demnation of a broken law, unsaved by grace. 

Now in the first place we will note a few of the 
horrors of this pit and then the only way to get 
out of it. 

First, this pit is horrible on account of its 
depth. Just think of the condition of man before 
he sinned and compare it with the condition of the 
sinner today. 

How vast the distance that separates the two ; 
God and man were originally on the most friendly 
and intimate terms. God beheld His beautiful and 
innocent creatures, they were altogether lovely and 
drew forth from their maker the love of com- 
placency for He pronounced them very good. God 
looked upon this crowning work of His creation and 
they reflected His own image as a mirror reflects 
the countenance of him that looks into it. But now 
when He looks upon the carnal man what does He 
see? Oh, horrid thought. Instead of His own 
image, He sees the image of the devil, reflected in 
his thoughts, words and deeds. He is full of rot- 
tenness and corruption ; his "heart is deceitful, 
above all things and desperately wicked. " Terrible, 
but true as the gospel. 



122 The Words of Faith. 

Sinner, this is your condition to-day. Do you 
realize it? Do you think within yourselves, I cer- 
tainly must, and will, attend to this matter soon. 
But go Thy way for this time. When I have a con- 
venient season I will call for Thee. What if the 
edict should go forth from the throne of omnipo- 
tence before another Sun : "Thou fool, this night 
shall thy soul be required of thee." But this pit is 
not only horrible on account of its depth, but also 
on account of its danger. It is very closely con- 
nected with another pit; that is to say, the pit of 
Hell, which is infinitely more horrible, and from 
which there is no escape. Terrible thought; the 
careless sinner is every day gliding nearer and near- 
er to this awful precipice, but he does not know it, 
for he cannot see his danger, because he is spirit- 
ually blind, until it is too late, except he opens his 
eyes to let in the light of divine revelation. For 
God is angry with the wicked every day. If he 
turn not from his sins He will cut him down, and 
who can say when? For even Jesus cannot save 
him in his sins ; and the sinner who is most happy 
in his sins is in the most danger. 

Moreover, this pit is horrible on account of 
its darkness. 

Dark, dark, dark, I still must say, 
Amidst the blaze of gospel day. 

Oh, how awfully dark is the unregenerated 
mind in relation to spiritual matters. Just imag- 
ine a man in such a pit as I have been describing, 
constantly exposed to the awful danger of falling 
into the fathomless abyss of Hell. The terrible 



The Words of Faith. 123 

lake of fire and brimstone, and that man in utter 
and complete darkness. For he is totally blind ; 
not a ray of light ever enabled him to perceive his 
danger or surroundings. How terrible would the 
condition of such a man be, and yet this is precisely 
the condition of the careless sinner, for he is led 
blindfolded by the Devil. But this terrible place 
is rendered still more so by the fact that it is a 
pit of noise or confusion. Now, there are five dis- 
tinct noises that forever torment the inmates of 
this horrid pit or den. And, first, we notice the 
terrible din of the World is ever ringing in the 
sinner's ear to prevent him from attending to his 
spiritual interests and the whispers or suggestions 
of God's spirit. The World comes in and claims 
the sole right to all the powers of his mind and 
body, including his affections. But Jesus says : "If 
any man love the World, the love of the Father 
is not in him." Just think how men will plan and 
labor, night and day, Sabbath and working days, 
for its wealth, and if perchance gold should be dis- 
covered in some new place, what an astonishing 
excitement it creates. Men will risk their lives to 
get a chance to get some of it. Is it not because 
they worship it? In fact, almost everybody seems 
to pant with excitement for the wealth of this 
World. How foolish, when we all know that "we 
brought nothing into this world, and it is certain 
we can carry nothing out." And some are in eager 
pursuit of its power, honors and praise in the shape 
of office and position in society; and still there 
are others who are in hot pursuit of its pleasures — 



124 The Words of Faith. 

mostly young people, but some of all ages. Some 
care for nothing as much as parties of vain and 
trifling persons. Some choose the dance, the thea- 
ter, the opera, the race track. Others can see noth- 
ing so desirable as drowning their intellectual and 
moral nature in dissipation, drunkenness and de- 
bauchery, and many other kinds of vain and sinful 
amusements, which serve to gratify the carnal man 
and operate against serious thoughts on the subjeect 
of religion. For these worldly pleasures, like a 
tempestuous wind drive away the good grain of 
serious thoughts on religious subjects. Further- 
more, Satan, of whom we shall speak more partic- 
ularly hereafter, uses the World in this way as his 
agent. Hence the noise and confusion that proceed 
from this source. But there is also the noise of the 
Flesh. This is, indeed, a close enemy, and ever 
present to prevent the sinner from turning away 
from his sins and thus prevent his coming to Christ 
for salvation. The Flesh also is another medium 
through which Satan operates very successfully. In 
respect to the Flesh, it seems to be the favorite 
medium with him and proved very effective in the 
garden of Eden. He attacked the man through the 
woman, and he still tempts to the gratification of 
Flesh lusts, desires and appetites. This noise is 
very attractive to the sinner, and it frequently dis- 
turbs the peace of the Christian. 

Then in this pit there is the terrific noise of 
the Devil himself, aside from all these agencies, for 
he has direct access to the human heart. In this 
direct way he attacked Jesus Christ. (In this case 



The Words of Faith. 125 

he could not attack the Saviour through a medium 
which had no existence in him.) He failed com- 
pletely, thank God. This was a glorious victory 
gained for us. Sometimes he tempts the preacher 
to make a display of his eloquence by charming his 
hearers with the flowers of rhetoric, which is en- 
tirely inconsistent with the solemn seriousness that 
should characterize the delivery of a message from 
God. And in this and many other ways he lulls 
the people into carnal security. Terrible thought, 
men and women, fast asleep in the arms of Satan, 
who is fast hurrying them to perdition. Sometimes 
he works up the most terrific storms of anger, mal- 
ice and revenge, and induces men to take each oth- 
er's lives, and then end their own existence. And all 
these things sometimes take place in our immediate 
neighborhood. 

But there are two more very different and dis- 
tinct noises that torment the inmates of this horrid 
pit and constantly disturb his treacherous and dan- 
gerous peace, and if he will only heed them and 
take warning they will work to his advantage. Now 
the Devil completely changes his tactics, for he tries 
to drown these noises with the din, din, din of other 
noises, or to stifle them with his deceitful sugges- 
tions. 

The Law is the first of this class of noises which 
rolls like peals of thunder through the conscience 
of the sinner, especially in his awakened condition, 
if possible to arouse him from his lethargy or sleep. 
"Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things 
which are written in the book of the Law to do 



126 The Words of Faith. 

them. The word "law" includes the law of that 
dispensation under which they lived, combined with 
the Moral Law or Decalogue (if they had it) and 
the Law of Conscience in all cases. For as soon 
as personal responsibility begins conscience works. 
Sinners, have you in every particular obeyed this 
Law? If not, the curse of God rests upon you. "Be 
sure your sins will find you out." Depend upon it, 
no man is justified in the sight of God by the law. 
Last, but not least, is the noise of Conscience, 
that faithful monitor which God has placed in every 
human breast; that still, small noise which seems 
to whisper in the ear, "This is wrong to do this 
thing, or not to do the other thing." It is sin in 
both cases, but if we heed not the warning, it final- 
ly sinks into silence, so that the hardened sinner's 
conscience becomes "seared as with a hot iron." 
If the alarm is set to wake the sleeper at 5 in the 
morning, it is effectual in the first instance, but if 
he goes to sleep again it is not so effectual next 
time, and soon ceases to wake him at all if he does 
not get right up when he hears it. Just so with 
conscience. All the former voices will finally be 
quieted, but Conscience will never die. In Hell it 
will be the worm that never dies, but constantly up- 
braids the lost soul with the thought, you would 
not heed my warnings in time, and now it is for- 
ever too late. You have brought all this ruin upon 
yourself. Oh, the pendulum of Eternity ticks al- 
ways. To the Christian, Conscience is a faithful 
friend. I have endeavored to express the Chris- 
tian's esteem for Conscience in the following lines : 



The Words of Faith. 127 

Quick as the Eagle's piercing eye, 
The near approach of sin, to see 

That I may to Thy bosom fly, 
Lord, let my Conscience ever be. 
But again, there is another thing that adds to 
the horrors of this pit. Its bottom consists of miry 
clay, and the more a man tries to get out, the deeper 
he gets in, for there seems to be no bottom to it, 
and no man ever got out of his carnal state with 
his own righteousness. Many try, but no one ever 
did or ever will succeed. It is evident if he ever 
does get out he must have help from some friend 
at the top. Now this friend is the Son of God, and 
he looks down at the sinner in the pit, and, Oh, 
what a look of pity and compassion. The Rock of 
Ages at the very mouth of the pit on an errand of 
mercy. A man in such a literal pit as I have de- 
scribed would need some strong, immovable fix- 
ture near the edge of the pit, whereunto to attach 
the rope by which he hoped and expected to be 
drawn up out of it. This Rock is Christ and the 
ropes are His promises. Now, these ropes are let 
down into the pit by the friend at the top. But 
do you not see, they may be let down and drawn 
up a thousand times and not bring a person out 
except the people in the pit take hold of them and 
hang to them? Ah, sinner, every time you hear a 
gospel sermon, these ropes are dangling about your 
ears. But there is a limit to the number of gospel 
opporunities. "For he that hardeneth his neck 
shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without rem- 
edy." But how, you say, can we connect ourselves 



128 The Words of Faith. 

with these ropes or promises? Take notice. As the 
rope connects the man in the pit with the rock. 
Even so the promises connect the Redeemer with 
the redeemed as soon as he attaches himself to 
them ; but not before. And this is why so many 
of the redeemed are not saved. And this is the 
sinner's part of the contract in striking the bar- 
gain for salvation, to which God sets the seal of 
His spirit. Now then, as hands are to the body, 
so is faith to the soul. The man in the pit may 
grasp the rope with a trembling hand, but if he 
hangs to it he will be drawn out. But not if he 
holds the rope with one hand and his treasures in 
the pit with the other, as Mr. Spurgeon's man did. 
But let the true penitent turn for encouragement to 
Isaiah ist. chap, and ioth verse. Then let him lay 
hold of one of these ropes with the trembling hand 
of humble trust. 

First. "When ye pray for a blessing, believe 
that ye receive it, and ye shall have it." 

Second. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and 
thou shalt be saved. 

Third. He that believeth in the Son of God hath 
everlasting life. 

Tell God in your own plain way that you ex- 
pect Him to fulfill His promises even to you, for 
you trust alone in the all meritorious blood of His 
dear Son for the forgiveness of your sins, and you 
expect him to fulfill His promise by granting you 
the seal of His spirit to witness, with your con- 
science, that you are born of God into the kingdom 
of His dear Son. But some poor sinner might say, 



The Words of Faith. 129 

Oh, it is so dark in this place, and my eyes are 
so weak that I can scarcely see the rope or ex- 
tend my hand to take hold of it. To all this Jesus 
replies : I send you my word for a heavenly light, 
and my ministers to assist you to take hold of my 
promises. But you must do the trusting yourself. 
Therefore, I say, be strong, yea, be strong. Then 
ye say ,Oh, Lord, Thou hast strengthened me, but 
now open Thou my eyes that I may see Thy salva- 
tion, and Jesus, presenting Himself to his soul, says, 
Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the 
sin of the world. The man believes his words and 
instantly passes from spiritual death into spiritual 
life. Even so David went up and was landed upon 
a Rock. "And He set my feet upon a rock." Quite 
a different place from the miry clay of the pit, now 
let me tell you. There is but this one rock, which 
is Christ, unto which you can anchor your soul. 
Trust not in the treacherous sands of self righteous- 
ness, for 

Christ is the way, and He alone, 

The only way, for sinners known, 

The only way to sinners given, 

That leads from sin and Hell to Heaven. 

Keep on this rock, Christian ; keep on the rock 
and w r e are safe. But the moment we step off we 
are in danger. It is very ungrateful, as well as 
unsafe, to presume on the mercy of God, to re- 
plant our feet upon the rock, when we wander off 
after the deceitful but fascinating flowers of world- 
ly pleasures. David kept on the rock and God 
established his goings. 



130 The Words of Faith. 

Quite a different thing this, to his former ex- 
perience, as expressed in the 38th Psalm. He real- 
izes now that his life and labor are not in vain; 
that he is winning his race satisfactorily, with a 
crown of glorious life in full view. Just so, the 
Lord establishes the goings of all those whose feet 
are planted upon the rock Christ by justifying faith. 

And He hath put a new song in my mouth, 
even praise unto God. 

New, indeed, to David, and vastly different 
from the songs he heard in the pit, which were often 
sung to the praise of his Satanic Majesty, the Devil, 
by many of the impious and unhappy creatures it 
contained. This new song is introductory to the 
song of the redeemed in Heaven, for it is the song 
of praise to our glorious Redeemer. Now, I fear 
many of my Christian friends are too much like 
myself, and find it difficult to join in the tune of 
this new and heavenly song, because we realize that 
we have but a meager supply of Christian joy, and 
the reason we have no more holy joy is because 
we failed to make a full surrender of our entire 
selves to Jesus. All for all. Jesus gave up all for 
us, even His life, and was made sin for us, that 
he might destroy both sin and its effects in us 
who believe in Him, by His death. Oh, wonderful 
love. He will certainly, then, give us joy accord- 
ing to His promise. For God having so loved us, 
how shall He not also freely give us all things 
promised? The fault is in us, not in Him. Have 
we not kept back part of the price? He certainly 
promises joy, as well as peace. I believe this to be 



The Words of Faith. 131 

the truth, and the truth will always do us good 
if we heed and embrace it. Then we will not let 
the truth lie buried, but dig for it, and bring it to 
the surface. Let us, therefore, make a faithful 
and prayerful examination of our hearts, and may 
He who searches them aid us in our investigations. 
And this brings to my mind an incident related 
in one of Mr. Spurgeon's sermons. He says : "There 
was in my congregation a man who was a constant 
attendant at our church services for several years, 
and he would come forward for the prayers of the 
church whenever an opportunity presented itself. 
I talked to him and prayed with him many times, 
but could not understand why he could not ob- 
tain the blessing of a sense of salvation. At length 
he died without it and the secret came out. He had 
two wives." No comment is necessary to explain 
the reason for his failure to get salvation. 

Many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in 
the Lord. 

David determined to make the change wrought 
in him manifest to all by his life, and the light 
of Divine Grace will soon grow very dim in that 
soul that does not let it shine forth in his life. He 
who keeps his religion to himself will soon have 
none to keep. Shut off the supply of atmospheric 
oxygen from the lamp and it goes out. This brings 
us to our last remarks on this all-important subject, 
which will be based upon the happy effect of pious 
example. David said, Many shall see, and fear and 
trust in the Lord. Christian piety is beautiful, but 
it sheds a light on society which reveals the hid- 



132 The Words of Faith. 

eousness and danger of sin, its tendency to make 
the sinner fear. The first impression made by it 
upon the sinner's mind is, however, one of admira- 
tion. He observes closely the Christian, and sees 
him surrounded by a halo of grace, reflected from 
his life works, and he feels bound to respect him 
for it. Even if in his sensual nature he hates him 
(and if he is not too deeply sunken in the miry 
clay of the pit), he will not insult the true Chris- 
tion with profane or indecent language. But this 
is not all, for he will perceive such a marked con- 
trast between the true Christian and himself (ev^n 
if he is a comparatively moral man) that he will 
begin to fear for his own safety. And this will in- 
duce him to seek a refuge from the danger to which 
he is exposed. In doing so he turns from his sins 
and turns to the Lord (Christ Jesus) for mercy 
and protection. Thus this great work of reforma- 
tion is effected entirely through the medium of 
pious Christian example, and frequently without a 
word of expostulation or exultation from the Chris- 
tian whose example was so effective. True Chris- 
tianity is like the friendly lighthouse to the mariner, 
the light from which enables him to see where the 
rocks or sandbars lie hidden beneath the sea, and 
he frequently has to change his course to avoid 
them. This is a beautiful figure of the effect of 
true Christian piety on society. As I have before 
observed, many not only fear, but turn to the Lord. 
Brethren, every Christian society, or, if you prefer 
the term, church of professing Christians, should 
resemble so many cities, set on hills, whose light 



The Words of Faith. 133 

cannot be hidden. And every professing Christian 
should be either a traveling or stationary beacon 
light in this dark world to save sinners from sin 
and ruin. If this were the case, wdio can calculate 
the effect upon a world that lies in the arms of the 
wicked one? 

Just admit that the true standard of the visible 
church on earth is the same to-day as our Lord 
declared it to be in the parable of the ten Virgins, 
and only take all the Protestant churches of Chris- 
tendom, get the sum total of their members, cut it 
in two equal parts, take one of these parts and 
let every member of the part taken make it a point 
of duty to make one convert to Christianity each 
year of his life, and to point sinners to Christ by his 
example and precepts ; also to besiege the throne of 
grace daily for God's blessing upon his efforts. 
Now, let this go on, say, for twenty years in this 
way, and I believe the Millennium would dawn up- 
on the next generation. For the churches would 
"grow in grace'' and be numerically doubled in 
membership annually. In the way I have pointed 
out the Church Militant can move the arm that 
moves the world effectually, but the sword which 
achieves this great victory over Satan will not be 
a sword of steel, but the w r eapon will be the two- 
edged sword of God's spirit, and carnal professors 
of Christianity will share none of the trophies of 
this victory. 



134 The Words of Faith. 



ON THE CHRISTIAN'S RACE FOR GLORY. 



Hebrews, Twelfth Chapter, First Verse, and First 
Clause of the Second Verse. 

With a deep sense of our weakness and utter in- 
ability to do anything in the way of thinking, writ- 
ing or speaking that will be acceptable to God and 
redound to His glory, unaided by the influences and 
guidance of His spirit, and therefore humbly rely- 
ing upon God's promise to grant us these influences 
just when and where we need them in our investiga- 
tions of His truth, we will now examine and endeavor 
to explain this text. 

Various figures have been employed by the sa- 
cred writers to illustrate the passage of the Christian 
through the wilderness of this world from the time 
he escaped from the chains and fetters of his sins 
and stepped into Christ's spiritual kingdom by an 
act of justifying faith. The Christian's passage has 
been represented as a continual warfare between two 
great armies, led by two of the most experienced gen- 
erals that ever lived, the Lord Jesus Christ and the 
Prince of Darkness, which is the Devil. But in our 
text St. Paul alludes to it under the figure of a race, 
and we shall now confine our observations as closely 
as possible to this figure of the track. There is evi- 
dently an allusion in it to the ancient Olympic games. 
St. Paul had some not very pleasant experiences in 
these, for he tells us that after the manner of men 



The Words of Faith. 135 

he fought with beasts at Ephesus, and it is evident 
from his own words that he draws the figure he em- 
ploys in our text from one of them, which was the 
game of foot racing. And it, like the other games, 
was immensely attractive. It was, I believe, of an- 
nual occurrence, and drew vast multitudes of the 
people to witness the exploits of the contestants and 
join in the festivities of the occasion. In our re- 
marks on this figure we will endeavor to direct your 
attention to some facts relating, first, to the race 
course, and, secondly, to the racers. 

In regard to the track, (i) that was prepared 
beforehand and not left to the choice of any of the 
racers, (2) and we presume prepared with great care 
and na little expense. (3) All real obstacles that 
could impede the progress or decrease the speed of 
the contestants were removed. (4) The track was 
made of the proper width, (5) and as straight and 
level as possible, and could not be changed in any 
way, either by the contestants for the prize, or the 
spectators, or witnesses. (6) At one end of the track 
was the fixed point (new birth) to start from. (7) 
At the other end was the prize (crown) hung up 
high and in the full view of the racers. (8) And 
every available place for a spectator to witness the 
contest was occupied. 

Second. The second facts relate to the racers. 
They had to prepare themselves for the occasion by 
using every means they could to render their muscles 
(means of grace) strong and elastic, their joints sup- 
ple, their spirits buoyant, their step light and easy (9). 
Moreover, sometimes they had to reduce their weight 



136 The Words of Faith. 

of fat (to divest themselves of burdensome worldly 
business) and flesh by diet and exercise, and to prac- 
tice those exercises daily that were best suited to 
strengthen those parts of the body which they ex- 
pected to be taxed to the very utmost when the race 
came off. Also there were fixed laws to regulate 
the running of these races, and the racers had to 
observe them scrupulously, for some of the specta- 
tors or witnesses would be their judges, and he could 
not obtain the prize except he ran a lawful race. 
(10) In practicing to prepare themselves for the race 
they carried weights, but when they contended for 
the prize, which was a wreath of flowers or ever- 
greens these were laid aside with their outer gar- 
ments. 

Having presented you with a picture of this an- 
cient game of foot racing, as we understand it by 
the light of history, we hope it will make a sufficient 
impression on your mind to be retained, while we 
endeavor to show wherein the Christian's pathway 
through life in connection with the Church Militant 
is prefigured by it, and wherein his race for life eter- 
nal in that pathway should be the exact antitype of 
the running of this ancient race. 

In the first place, let us carefully examine the 
race course. Brethren and sisters, I entreat you in 
the name and for the glory of God in your present 
and final salvation to remember that while there are 
many ways in which men and women walk, and 
each individual prefers to walk in a way that appears, 
to be most suitable to his nature, and which is right 
in his own eyes, even in the visible church — yet God 



The Words of Faith. 137 

has but one way selected for his children to walk 
in, and that way is the high way of holiness. Isaiah, 
the 35th chapter and 8th verse : "The unclean shall 
not pass over it." The wayfaring men, though fools, 
shall not err therein. No lion or ravenous beast shall 
be there; but the redeemed shall walk there. It is 
indeed a holy way, for Christ is the one and only 
way, and He says to His disciples : "Be ye holy, even 
as your Father which is in Heaven is holy." How 
beautifully the true Christian's race for life corre- 
sponds with the language of the text just quoted. 
Depend upon it, no man can serve two masters. Je- 
sus says : "He that is not with me is against me." 
Now, this way is a high way and conducive to spir- 
itual health. That soul that walks in the low r er ways 
for the sake of worldly pleasures soon becomes sickly. 
It is also an old and established way, much older than 
the Christian era. The Patriarchs walked in it. 
Enoch walked in it, and God's people have been walk- 
ing in it from that day to this, and this way is the 
track God has prepared beforehand for the Christian 
to run in. Mark you, he cannot choose his own way. 
but must give up his own peculiar w T ays and notions 
when these conflict with God's way, and run in God's 
racecourse if he ever wins the prize of life eternal, 
and this will require considerable exertion. 

Again, it cost considerable to prepare this ancient 
track. 

My beloved brethren, just think of the immense 
sum it cost our Redeemer to prepare this way for 
us. "For ye are not redeemed with corruptible things, 
such as gold or silver, but with the precious blood 



138 The Words of Faith. 

of Christ. Now all real obstacles that might impede 
the progress of the ancient racer were removed. The 
greatest of all obstacles in the way of the sinner's 
salvation was the justice of God, and this is entirely 
removed out of the sinner's way when he trusts in 
the vicarious sacrifice offered up by the Son of God 
upon the altar of the cross, not only for the sins of 
the world, but for his own personal sins in particular, 
and for the remission of the same. 

Dear Christian, this track is of the proper width, 
for He who laid it off is God himself. He calls it 
a narrow way, but he took care to make it wide 
enough for all to run in who are willing to contend 
for the prize, and He upbraids the people with the 
accusation: "Ye will not come unto me, that ye 
might have life." For Christ tasted death for every 
man. But there were bounds fixed on either side in 
such a way that no man can run in it with a bundle 
of sins upon his back. In fact, the gate that leads 
to it is so small that he cannot possibly get in with 
a sin attached to his person. However, when he does 
get in he finds it to be a blessed way, illuminated by 
the Sun of Righteousness, which darts a ray of joy 
right into his soul that causes him to sing: 

"Jesus, Thy blood and righteousness 
My beauty are, my glorious dress. 
'Midst flaming worlds in this arrayed, 
With joy shall I lift up my head." 
Moreover, he finds it to be straight and level 

enough for all purposes of comfort, consistent with 
his speed in running, or growth in grace, so that 



The Words of Faith. 139 

there really is no need of stumbling. And woe be to 
that man who tries to make changes in the track 
by teaching for doctrines the commandments of men 
(Mathew, 15:9) or in any other way places stum- 
bling blocks in his brother's way, no matter whether 
that man be within the pales of the visible church 
or outside of them. 

Again, at one end of the track was the point to 
start from. This was unalterably fixed. 

Dear friends, the most important question is, 
Have we been begotten again by the Holy Ghost? 
Not have we been baptized with water? This is right 
as far as it goes, but it is not a saving ordinance. 
For if we have not been begotten of the Holy Ghost 
we have never been born into the kingdom of Christ, 
but are still in the kingdom of Satan, even if we 
have been baptized with water in Christian baptism. 
Don't forget this, for it is the truth. We may make 
approaches toward the track without this change, 
but we can never get on to it. True, we may get 
into the visible church, but that is all. We have never 
been made new creatures in Christ Jesus, and the 
fruits of the Spirit do not flourish in our souls. The 
soil and climate are not adapted to them. 

At the other end of the Christian's race, hung up 
high, upon the immutable promise of God, but within 
sight of the Christian racer (if he is not nearsighted 
by a weak faith) is the prize, which is a glorious 
crown of eternal life. How vastly different from 
the fading wreaths of earthly pleasures or worldly 
wealth. In the Olympic game many ran for the same 
prize, but only one could get it. In the race for 



140 The Wokds of Faith. 

the crown of life everyone who runs may obtain it. 
Thank God, there is a crown for every man and 
woman that will strive lawfully for it. Let us, there- 
fore, be careful that no other person takes the crown 
designed for us, for it is possible for us to have 
our names blotted out of the Book of Life. And they 
will be blotted out of the book of life, except we so 
use the weapons of our spiritual warfare as to over- 
come in this race for life. Rev. 3:5. Let us be care- 
ful so to run that we may obtain the prize. 

On either side of this ancient race course was 
a dense crowd of spectators, witnessing the running 
of the race. The Christian also has his witnesses, 
and they are divided into two classes, each class con- 
sisting of two distinct parts. The first class of wit- 
nesses are spiritual. St. Paul enumerates a host of 
them in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews, and in 
allusion to them he says : "Wherefore seeing we also 
are compassed about with so great a cloud of wit- 
nesses. We do well, dear friends, to bear this in 
remembrance. The spirits of our departed friends, 
our ancestors, and it may be our parents, or children, 
now in Paradise, are witnessing our walk and con- 
duct in life. But above all, one of our witnesses 
is our judge, and He will award us the crown of 
life or banish us from His presence forever in just 
accordance with our deserts. His omniscient eye 
is ever upon us, scrutinizing even the most secret 
thoughts of our hearts. We cannot hide from his 
piercing gaze. But you say: How can we help our 
thoughts? We cannot help the suggestions of Satan. 
I answer : Neither can we help the birds flying over 



The Wokds of Faith. 141 

our heads, but we need not permit them to make 
nests in our hair. But evil spirits as well as good 
ones form a part of the dense crowd of witnesses 
on either side of the Christian's race track. These 
evil spirits rejoice to see a Christian get near to the 
line of demarkation and shout with Satanic ecstacy 
when he steps over it. Christians, take care that 
you do not give Devils cause to rejoice over your 
fall. It is extremely dangerous to get very close 
to the line. Keep as near the middle of the track as 
you can. But men and women are also witnessing 
the consistency of our lives with our profession of 
Christianity. Let us take care that we do not pain 
the minds of our fellow racers, or put a stumbling 
block in our brother's way. Whenever we do this 
we grieve God's Holy Spirit, and cause our loving 
Saviour to grieve over us. 

But the people of the world are watching us 
very closely. One of these witnesses said to me: "I 
cannot see any difference for the better in the life 
and conduct of many persons in the church and us 
outsiders. Alas, this witness is only too true, and 
men of the world think they will fare as well in the 
end as these church members. Brethren, these things 
ought not so to be; but they are lamentable facts. 
Take care, brethren, we cannot tell how soon our 
race will terminate. But every day we live brings 
us nearer to the end of our course. 

But now let us see in what way the conduct of 
the Christian should resemble that of the racer. First, 



142 The Words of Faith. 

the racer prepared himself for the race. The prepa- 
ration indispensably necessary for the Christian is: 
Repentance toward God that leads him to hate and 
forsake his sins. John the Baptist, who was the 
connecting link between the two dispensations of the 
same church, preached the baptism of repentance 
for the remission of sins that are past. Now this is 
the first step toward the Christian's race track. But 
when we get on to it, let us run, exert ourselves to 
the utmost of our ability, and never imagine it is a 
place to lie down in idleness, neither be contented 
with creeping along. Such a racer as this in the old 
grecian game would never have taken the prize. But, 
alas, many go limping along at a snail's pace, with 
heads hanging down like bull rushes. This is not 
the way Jesus loves to see His children proceed on 
their journey. Some do even worse. They lie down 
on the track or take the backward course. In fact, 
he who is not getting nearer to the prize is getting 
farther from it. Don't forget that, but let us run 
with patience. 

Patience presupposes perseverance. Don't 
grow weary in well doing, and become impatient, 
and faint hearted, for in due time we shall reap, if 
we faint not. 

To patient faith, the prize is sure, 
And they that to the end endure 
The Cross, shall wear the crown. 
But "let us lay aside every weight." 



The Words of Faith. 143 

When the ancient racer was preparing himself 
to run for the prize he carried weights while training 
for the track, but as soon as he entered the race 
track, with the intention of contending for the 
prize, he laid all these aside, together with his outer 
garment, lest it be an incumbrance to him. 

Just so the Christian should lay aside all those 
things which have a tendency to impede his prog- 
ress in the Divine life, such as all consuming world- 
ly cares, and fascinating pleasures, and pastimes that 
the children of this world call innocent amusements, 
such as the ballroom, the theater, the card table, the 
vain and trifling young people's party. These 
weights greatly retard the Christian's progress. 
These are the haunts that Satan frequents, and his 
business there is to tempt people. Now do not pray 
"Lead us not into temptation/' and then go and run 
deliberately into it. Neither think that Jesus likes 
to see his disciples put on a long, sanctified, or rath- 
er, melancholy countenance, with heads hanging 
down like bullrushes. Rejoice, laugh, sing, and if 
needs be dance, but do all to the glory of God. 

In connection with this part of my subject I 
have endeavored to compare a few lines of poetry 
to show why and how the Christian should rejoice. 

All praise be to God, my Saviour and King, 
Who loves me, and saves me by grace, from my sin ; 
And brings me at last to His bright abode, 
Where I shall rejoice, in the presence of God. 



144 The Words of Faith. 

I place in his hand my worldly affairs, 
And pile on His shoulders my burden of cares, 
And light as a heart, I bound my way home, 
To pick up my prize at the foot of his throne. 

But there is another class of weights that will 
weigh down the Christian, and these also must be 
laid aside. 

To this class belongs "The sin which doth so 
easily beset us." Most people have, or have had, 
their own peculiar besetting sin. Satan, when pre- 
senting it, sometimes assumes the garb of an angel 
of light. He attacks the Christian in various ways, 
through the world, or the flesh, and the sin besets 
easily. He imagines it to be of trifling consequence 
if he does this thing, that or the other thing, to 
which his conscience says nay, or not to do those 
things which conscience tells him are duties. And, 
alas, these sins would fain cleave to us, if they could. 
This sin is generally of a constitutional, educational 
or professional character. 

Some persons are, by nature, of a quick, nerv- 
ous and irritable temperament, which they inherit 
from some of their ancestors, and when these people 
become Christians, they find it difficult to imitate 
the meekness and patience of our blessed Savior, and 
their words and conduct, except seasoned with 
grace, are far too hasty and harsh. Again others 
have inherited from their parents an insatiate thirst 
for intoxicating drinks. Such persons are in a most 
pitiable situation, and should excite our sympathy 



The Words of Faith. 145 

and assistance. All such persons will be greatly 
benefited by the pledge if they can keep it. Some 
have been educated in such a way as to lead them to 
believe some things may be indulged in, sometimes, 
that are very inconsistent with true piety. Such 
things as Sabbath breaking, and the neglect of Chris- 
tian ordinances, private prayer at stated intervals, 
and the study of God's word. The negelct of these 
means of grace decrease the Christian's spiritual 
strength, so that he is easily brought under condem- 
nation by his besetting sin. Again, the various pro- 
fessions or businesses of life all have their peculiar 
temptations, through which Satan assails those 
Christians who follow those occupations, and it is 
not in our power to enumerate them, for their num- 
ber is legion. 

Now all these besetting sins must be laid aside 
by the Christian if he runs successfully. But there 
are other weights, which sometimes press heavily 
upon the Christian, but, strange to say, they do not 
impede his progress in the least, but greatly accel- 
erate it. These must not and cannot be laid aside. 
These weights are like the weights of a clock that 
are necessary to keep the machinery in motion. 
One of these weights, and a very important one, is 
cross bearing. Jesus says : "If any man will come 
after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross 
daily and follow me." Luke 9 123. Every Christian 
has his own cross; let him bear it for Christ, for 
Jesus bore the cross for us. No cross, no crown. 
The cross must be taken up, not laid aside. 

Another weight is the chastening of the Lord, 



146 The Words of Faith. 

for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and if ye 
be without chastisement, then are ye bastards, and 
not sons. Now all chastening is grievous to the .af- 
flicted child of God. Nevertheless, afterwards it 
yieldeth the peaceable fruits of righteousness. Let 
us, therefore, bear these afflictions with patience and 
resignation, no matter what may be their nature. 
We know the design of God who sends them is that 
they may work out for us a far more exceeding and 
eternal weight of glory. 

But there is a chastisement that affects our own 
persons, in the shape of an afflicting and painful 
disease. This affliction St. Paul calls a thorn in the 
flesh. A few thoughts in relation to this matter just 
occur to my mind, which I will endeavor to express 
in rhyme, if possible to make a deeper impression 
upon the mind of the reader: 

The thorn in my flesh I'll patiently bear, 
For my Saviour's love is so comforting there ; 
God never can err ; he knows what is best 
My soul to prepare, to enjoy his sweet rest; 
He'll grant me, I know, the sweetest relief 
From all of my pain and all of my grief. 

Owing to the close union of the spiritual and 
material nature in man, this thorn in the flesh has a 
tendency to depress the animal spirits. God some- 
times sees this thorn to be necessary, lest we should 
be exalted above measure. 

There are other weights, however, which we 
cannot lay aside. The temptations of the Devil — 
we would gladly escape them if we could, but we 



The Words of Faith. 147 

cannot always do so. But, remember, it is no sin to 
be tempted. The sin is in yielding to the tempta- 
tion. 

"Blessed is the man that endureth temptation, 
for when he is tried he shall receive the crown of 
life." The ist of James, 13th verse. 

But, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher 
-of our faith. . Jesus says, "I am the first and the 
last." (Rev., 1-17.) Brethren, this is the most im- 
portant part of our subject. In the ancient game the 
prize was hung up in full view of the racer, to stim- 
ulate him to the greatest exertion. But our prize 
lays at the feet of our judge, whose eye is now upon 
us, and who is seated upon his priestly throne, in 
glory, presenting himself as our Mediator, 
with one hand grasping Deity and the other 
hand Humanity, and in this way uniting with God 
all who are united to Him for justifying faith. 
Brethren, Jesus has a prize of Life Eternal for each 
one of his children, and (by his immutable word), 
he calls to them out of heaven : "Be thou faithful 
unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life." 
The just and only inference is, if we are unfaithful 
to him, when death overtakes us we shall miss the 
crown of life, because we shall appear in eternity 
severed from Christ, as the unfruitful branch is cut 
from the vine. Let us, therefore, keep the eye of 
faith fixed on Jesus. Look away from the turbulant 
scenes of this world. As the mariner on the ocean 
in the tempestuous night keeps his eye fixed upon 
the star to guide him in his course, so may we be 
guided by the Star of Righteousness. You have 



148 The Words of Faith. 

looked upon him, in the sense that the bitten Israel- 
ite looked toward the brazen serpent in the Wilder- 
ness. You looked and the poison of sin was extract- 
ed from your souls by that look. Continue to look 
on the great antitype of that brazen serpent, which 
is Jesus Christ. Yes, look on, continually, and you 
are safe. But whenever we take our eye off him and 
fasten it on the wealth, pleasures and vanities of 
this world, we are in great danger, because He is 
the first and the last, especially in the Christian's 
race for eternal life. 
Amen. 



The Words of Faith. 149 



ON THE GOSPEL TREASURE. 



Second Epistle of Paul to the Church at Corinth and 
the Seventh Verse of the Fourth Chapter. 

"But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, 
that the glory of the power may be of God, and not 
of us." 

The celebrated Grecian city of Corinth, being 
situated upon an isthmus and furnished with two 
maritime towns, was admirably adapted for com- 
merce, which, of course, soon became the leading 
enterprise or occupation of its inhabitants. Com- 
merce brought wealth, and luxuries. It was adorned 
with temples, palaces and theaters, all enriched with 
the columns, capitals and bases that give rise to the 
Corinthian order of architecture. But all these 
things, being unfavorable to virtue, truth and jus- 
tice, led to sin and ruin, and in the year 146 B. C. 
it was completely destroyed by fire. Soon after this, 
however (very much like our Chicago), it was re- 
built with great splendor, and very soon more than 
regained its ancient celebrity for wealth, luxury, 
population, and, I may add, sin. True the arts and 
sciences were cultivated very extensively at this 
time in this (then) modern Corinth, and schools 
were opened for the study of philosophy. But all 
these things failed to prevent the grossest immoral- 
ity and licenciousness, for unbounded wealth ena- 
bled the inhabitants to indulge to excess in their 



150 The Words of Faith. 

favorite vices. Even with their devotion they mixed 
the grossest immoralities, and one historian informs 
us that a thousand harlots were constantly main- 
tained in the Temple of Venus. Now it was in this 
modern Corinth that a society of Christians had 
taken up their abode. We cannot tell for what rea- 
son, but if they were faithful they must have shone 
like a brilliant celestial light in a very dark place, far 
they were surrounded by all these circumstances 
adverse to Christianity. It was to these Christians 
that St. Paul was commissioned to carry and offer 
a treasure, infinitely more valuable than all the 
wealth of their celebrated city. And in the language 
of the text he shows why this inestimable treasure 
is deposited in so frail a receptacle. 

In the explanation of this interesting and im- 
portant subject, we shall, in the first place, make 
some observations on the nature and value of this 
treasure ; secondly, on the weakness and fraility of 
the vessel containing it, and in the third place we 
shall endeavor to show from the text the reason 
why God has deposited such a priceless treasure in 
such a weak and perishable vessel. And may God 
enlighten our minds, that we may have a clear in- 
sight into these glorious truths. First, we notice,, 
the intelligence contained in this treasure was pecul- 
iarly suitable for those to whom Paul was commis- 
sioned to convey it, which were the Christians at 
Corinth and Achaia (the province of which Corinth 
was the capital). It was suitable for these Chris- 
tians because it was Divine in its origin, and spirit- 
ual in its nature. And this was the very thing which 



The Words of Faith. 151 

they most needed, for they greatly needed counter 
influences to operate against all those influences by 
which they were surrounded, which were Satanic in 
their origin and tendency, for as I have already ob- 
served, the ceremonial rites of the idolatrous devo- 
tional exercises of the Corinthians were so extreme- 
ly sensual and corrupt as to make the very thought 
of them excessively repulsive to a carnal man in a 
Christian community of the present day. (For 
Christianity necessarily exerts an influence on so- 
ciety, even if it does not always make Christians of 
them.) But if our gospel be hidden, it is 
hidden to them that are lost. The word Gospel is 
an Anglo-Saxon word, meaning God's Spell, or 
God's charm. When the ancient Britons saw the 
effect it produced they called it Goths spell, or 
charm, which he uses to draw sinners to Christ. 
This corresponds with the meaning of the Greek, 
Eulogium, which is good news. 

The exact nature of the very essence of the gos- 
pel is expressed in these words : "God so loved the 
w^orld that he gave his only begotten son, that who- 
soever believeth in Him, might not perish, but have 
everlasting life." 

What can be better news than this. Yes, dear 
friends, the proclamation of this glorious intelli- 
gence has been the means of saving countless mil- 
lions, and countless millions more will hear it, be- 
lieve it, come to Jesus in prayer, trust in him and be 
saved from their sins. This, then, is in part, the 
nature of this blessed treasure, the faithful procla- 
mation of which has the promise of the influences 



152 The Words of Faith. 

of the Holy Ghost; and it is these influences that 
effect all the good in revivals of religions, and not the 
talent of the messenger who carries the news. Now 
this promise is invariably fulfilled, for God is faith- 
ful to perform all his promises, and the faithful 
preaching of the gospel is bound to be accompanied 
by these influences, and when they are permitted by 
the persons under their renovating power to lead 
them to Christ, they prove to be to them the savor 
of life unto life. But if slighted, or rejected by them, 
they prove the savor of death unto death, for "he 
that knoweth his Master's will and doeth it not, shall 
be beaten with many stripes." 

Just think of the condition of those nations un- 
der the influence of a pure gospel, and compare with 
the condition of those nations that lack those influ- 
ences. Compare the condition of England, the 
United States and the Protestant nations of Europe 
with the condition of China, Turkey, Persia, Arabia, 
Japan, Corea, to say nothing about the savages of 
Africa, the East Indies and the islands of the Pacific, 
and it is easy to see the purifying effect of a genuine 
gospel ministry. The Holy Spirit's influence attend- 
ing the promulgation of gospel truth is the only po- 
tent and effective power that can dispel the darkness 
that veils the human mind in relation to spiritual and 
divine truth, and the gospel under all circumstances 
has similar effects when heard and believed. It makes 
the rough paths of peevish Nature, even, and opens 
in the breast a little heaven. (Watts.) Wherever 
we find a community entirely lacking the influences 
of a pure gospel ministry, we see the sad result of 



The Words of Faith. 153 

the want of those influences manifest in the degen- 
erate state of the morals of society in that community. 
And the same is true with regard to the various Chris- 
tian societies or churches. In the latter case no 
church can prosper in a spiritual sense without a 
genuine evangelical gospel ministry, no matter what 
the talent of the officiating minister may be, or by 
what name his church may be known. St. Paul justly 
calls it the glorious gospel of the blessed God. This 
is true, for its inherent nature is to produce glorious 
results. 

But now how about the value of this treasure. 
Here I am at a loss for language. For what language 
can express its intrinsic value. Angel minds are rep- 
resented upon the mercy seat as prying into the mys- 
terious abyss of divine love in utter amazement at its 
fathomless depths. Solomon in Proverbs 2:15, evi- 
dently speaking of Christ under the figure of wis- 
dom (although I very much doubt if he understood 
the full meaning of the truths he uttered), said: 
"Wisdom is more precious than rubies, and all the 
things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto 
her." Now, Christ was the price paid for this treas- 
use. (Oh, how costly a treasure is the gospel.) Not- 
withstanding all the vast resources of this illimitable 
universe is and was at God's disposal, yet no other 
price, could be found adequate or of sufficient value 
to defray the expenses of human redemption but His 
own beloved Son, because no other price could pay 
the penalty attached to the breaking of the holy law 
of God, which, like its founder, was infinite in its 
character. Therefore the penalty must be infinite in 



154 The Words of Faith. 

its nature. This was far beyond the power of any 
creature to furnish. But Christ being the Son of the 
Eternal Father could by the substitution of Himself 
in man's place redeem man. He volunteered His 
services to perform this great work, was accepted 
by His Father and entered our world in the womb 
of the blessed Virgin Mary, and being God with 
God He became at this time man with man also, and 
redeemed man with His own blood. This was the 
price paid for this treasure. 

Brethren, it takes the very life blood of the Son 
of God to cleanse one soul from sin. Had the whole 
army of angels, which retain their primitive purity, 
offered their services to rescue man from ruin, they 
could not have effected the work of redemption, be- 
cause they had no works of superogation with which 
to make compensation to the divine law that man 
had transgressed. "The redemption of the soul is 
precious and it ceaseth forever." It is impossible 
that a mere human sacrifice could be acceptable for 
man's sin, for an Angelic sacrifice would, as we see, 
have been entirely insufficient. 

Christ is the way, and He alone, 

The only way for sinners known ; 

The only way, to sinners given, 

That leads from death and hell to Heaven. 

For the following reasons this is true, Christ 
declares it himself, and it was the divine nature, 
blended with the human nature in the person 
of Jesus Christ, that is it was broth natures to- 
gether, that suffered in man's stead which 



The Words of Faith. 155 

rendered the sacrifice complete, and in- 
finitely efficacious, to cleanse the whole hu- 
man family from sin. For there is no limit to the 
efficacy of the blood of the Son of God. But, say 
some, is it the blood of the Son of God, or only the 
blood of Jesus? To- this question I reply: Every 
man is the very son of his own father as much as he 
is of his mother. Just so is Jesus Christ. For He, 
the very Son of the Eternal Father; He I say, trod 
the winepress of God's wrath alone. True, the awful 
sense of His Father's displeasure resting upon Him 
while officiating as our substitute by bearing our sin 
in His own Divine and human person upon the cross, 
caused Him, while enduring inconceivable agonies, to 
exclaim, "My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken 
me. But God forbid, we should suppose, from the 
language of Christ upon this occasion, that His 
divine nature had left His human nature to suffer 
alone. Oh, no, for it was the omnipotent arm of 
Deity that grappled with and conquered both Satan 
and death, so that He arose from the tomb the 
mightiest conqueror in the universe, neither death nor 
hell could detain Him after His great work of re- 
demption was complete. The Son or second person 
of the Trinity alone did the suffering and God, the 
Father, or first person in the Trinity withdrew the 
consolations of His smile from the scene, this caused 
the Son in His anguish to exclaim "Eli, Eli, lama 
sabachthani." For years not redeemed with corrpt- 
able things, but with the precious blood of Christ. 
First chapter of Ep. of Peter, 18th and 19th verse. 
And the precious blood of Christ cleanses from all sin. 



156 The Words of Faith. 

First Ep. of John and part of 7th verse; this is in- 
deed glorious news, for it includes not only justifica- 
tion by faith, but also sanctification, through faith, 
which is a work wrought both for us and in us. This 
is the full measure which genuine gospel intelligence 
places at our disposal ; anything short of this is not 
the entire glorious gospel of the blessed God. Jesus 
said to His disciples, "Be ye therefore perfect, even 
as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect ( Mat. 
5:48). Paul, in addressing this epistle to the Corin- 
thians predicates it, "To them that are sanctified/' 
Again in the first El. to the Thess, 5:23, he says: 
"And the very God of peace, sanctify you wholly/' 
From these and many other portions of scripture it 
is quite evident that the blessed state of sanctification, 
or Christian perfection, is quite as possible in the 
church militant as it is desirable. These facts all 
serve to illustrate the nature and priceless value of the 
Gospel Treasure. How beautiful upon the moun- 
tains are the feet of those that publish it. This brings 
us to the second division of our subject which is the 
weakness and frailty of the vessel containing it. In 
St. Paul's Epis. the Hebrews the second chapter and 
second verse He uses these words : "For if the word 
spoken by /\ngels was steadfast," there is an evident 
allusion here to the ministration of Angels at the pro- 
mulgation of the law at Mount Sinai. See Exodus, 19 
chapter, 16, 17, 18 and 19th verse. 

Probably the trumpets' blast was the work of 
Angels. Thus we find God employed Angels in pro- 
claiming the Law to man, and so awfully glorious, 
was their ministration, that the children of Israel 



The Words of Faith. 157 

trembled exceedingly. God also employed Angels in 
introducing his gospel to man, and the arch-Angel, 
Gabriel, preached the first gospel sermon that was 
ever preached to the Virgin Mary ; afterward a multi- 
tude of the Heavenly host joined in chorus to pro- 
claim the same gospel, second chapter of Luke, 9th, 
13th and 14th verses. Now mark the difference in 
the introduction of the two dispensations, both glor* 
ious but the' latter excels in glory. Angels, however, 
were Heavenly, not earthen vessels, and God, in His 
infinite wisdom has seen fit to discontinue the use of 
Angels for conveying to man the blessed treasure of 
the gospel, and to employ man for this purpose. Now 
the frailty and weakness of this messenger of peace, 
bearing the precious seed of Divine Truth is manifest 
to all and should be evident to the messenger himself. 
It was evident to Paul; he felt his weakness when 
he said : "Who is sufficient for these 'things." Let 
that man who proposes to enter the ministry count 
the cost. Paul felt the weight of the great respon- 
sibility pressing him continually, and he also fel't 
that the Treasure he was commissioned to preach 
greatly honored him when he said (Heb. 5 14) : And 
no man taketh this honor to himself, but he that is 
called of God, as was Aaron. Brethren, it is a 
fearful thing for that man who rushes into the min- 
istry, without this call ; this is one great reason 
why there is not more god done by the church in 
the world ; one cause of so much barrenness in the 
church itself. No wonder the trees in our Lord's 
vineyard bring forth so meager a supply of spiritual 
fruit ; no man is capable of instructing others in Di- 



158 The Words of Faith. 

vine Truth until he is experimentally acquainted 
with its power upon his own soul, for if the blind 
lead the blind, both will be pretty sure to fall into 
the ditch. It is this Treasure of Divine Truth in 
»the heart of the gospel messenger that enables him 
so to deliver his message, as to insure the gracious 
influences of God's Holy Spirit upon his word; and 
this is what renders the gospel effective, and not 
the minister's logical arguments or rhetorical elo- 
quence, for God has made his own word (in a meas- 
ure) to be self propagating, inasmuch at least as it 
needs none of 'the fanciful flourishes of the great and 
popular preacher. Let every gospel preacher re- 
member the ministerial office dignifies the man, and 
not the man the office, for he is still a man only, of 
like passions to ourselves, and subject to satanic in- 
fluences. 

Brethren, we should remember this, and not 
expect too much from our preachers. God has a 
work for us in his church as well as for them ; bu't 
alas, how many idlers are in the church. When 
Aaron and Joshua held up the arms of Moses, Israel 
prevailed; but when they let them down, Amaleck 
prevailed. This should teach us a lesson. What 
should we think of a man who expected the over- 
seer of his farm to do all the work, unaided by his 
hired hands? God does not do this, but the vessel 
containing this Treasure, weak and perishable as it 
is, has a free access daily to an inexhaustible store 
of divine strength in our omnipotent Deliverer, who 
invites us to ask and receive, that our joy may be 
full. God first qualifies whom he calls, and equips 



The Words of Faith. 159 

them with strength and weapons for the warfare. 
A preacher's weakness is very apparent when he 
claims higher pay on account of his talent. Did 
Paul feel like this? I think not. Which is a man 
of this stamp striving for most, the glory of God 
in the salvation of souls, or a fat salary. Unques- 
tionably the latter. But these chosen vessels will 
all, one after ano'ther, sink into the earth. But glory 
be to God, the Treasure they contained will not be 
lost. Oh, no. It is self-propagating. God buries 
His workmen, but he carries on His work. This has 
been going on for over 1850 years, and it will not 
cease until time is no more. Tens of thousands of 
these vessels have been torn to atoms by the violent 
hand of persecution, but the Treasure is safe, per- 
fectly safe. 

From the embers and ashes of the fires of per- 
secution kindled by Pagan and Anti-Christian Rome, 
and still more recently in Mohammedan countries, 
tens of thousands of living witness will arise to sing 
the praises of our great Deliverer. It has been ob- 
served that the blood of martyrs is the seed of the 
church. We now proceed in the third place, to no- 
tice the reason why God saw fit to employ man, 
rather than angels, to preach the Gospel. Paul says 
the reason is That the glory of the power might be 
of God and not of us. St. Paul is undoubtedly 
right. God has proclaimed Himself to be a jealous 
God, for He will not give the glory which belongs 
to Him to any creature, and certainly all the glory 
of man's salvation belongs to God, for salvation is 
an absolutely free gift of God to man. But if angels 



160 The Words of Faith, 

had been employed by God to preach the gospel to 
man, man might have attributed the success attend- 
ing it to the glorious wisdom and power of these 
heavenly beings, and thus have been led into the ter- 
rible sin of idolatry. For even St. John was about 
to worship an angel, but the angel said, See thou do 
it not. Now God in mercy to man would not put 
this temptation in his way. 

Depend upon it, spiritual pride is not only very 
dangerous, but very sinful. It appears to me to be 
more hateful in the sight of God than almost any 
other sin, because it arrogates to itself that praise 
which justly belongs to God alone. 

This brings to my mind a circumstance which, 
if it is true, is really awful. About two or three 
years ago I saw in some religious periodical, I think 
in the St. Louis Christian Advocate, an extract 
from, I believe, a Scotch church paper, to this ef- 
fect : There was in that part of the country an ex- 
ceedingly popular preacher, who always drew large 
congregations. Consequently he had many calls to 
preach on special occasions, and the people almost 
worshipped him. There was also another preacher 
living in that neighborhood, and he thought he 
would take a little rest in his garden, so he sat down 
in a quiet, shady place to think. He had not been 
seated more than a few minutes when he saw the 
talented preacher approaching him, and when he 
came near enough he accosted him in 'the usual man- 
ner, to which he replied: What is the time? He 
looked at his watch, and gave him the exact time; 
then, said the stranger, I have been in hell just one 



The Words of Faith. 161 

hour; I am not there because I did not preach the 
Truth, for I did that ; but I am there because I took 
the glory to myself. Verily, I have had my reward. 

Having said this he disappeared. Of course this 
made a deep impression on the gentleman's mind. 
The next day, while on a short journey, I think to 
perform some of his pastoral duties, a friend said 
to him : Have you heard the news. He replied, 
What news? Why, the Rev. Dr. So and So is dead. 
He dropped dead yesterday at, I 'think, 2 o'clock p. 
m. Oh, yes, I knew he was dead, was the reply. 

Now I cannot vouch for the truth of this story, 
but I have stated it as near as I can remember just 
as I read it. I do not think it can do any harm, and 
it may do good, so let the popular preacher take 
warning. 

Some years ago a gentleman from Kansas City 
who was himself a local preacher, told me this : A 
short time ago I went to hear the Rev. So and So, a 
D. D., preach his introductory sermon to the church 

at street, Kansas City. At the close of the 

sermon, he said : I have a few remarks to make to 
the church at this point, and as it is the last time I 
shall ever name it to them, I will be plain. I cannot 
afford to give you my services as pastor for less than 
$3,000 a year. My education has been very expen- 
sive; these arms, hands and brain can make more 
than that sum in business in Omaha. This state- 
ment is correct. My informant was a pious and 
humble Christian, in the M. E. church, South. How 
terrible for a man to make merchandise of the gos- 
pel ! There is a glorious power in the gospel, but 



162 The Words of Faith. 

the glory of the power is of a spiritual nature ; con- 
sequently, it exerts a glorious influence upon the 
spiritual nature of man, completely reforming it 
by dispelling the cloud of spiritual darkness that 
envelops his mind, and diffusing in its place that 
heavenly light which evolves from the Sun of Right- 
eousness. Nevertheless, this hidden work of the 
Holy Ghost does not admit of an ocular demonstra- 
tion itself, because of its spiritual nature. For The 
wind bloweth where it listeth ; thou hearest the 
sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, 
or wither it goeth ; so is every one that is born of 
the Spirit. 

The power of 'the wind is known by its sound 
and effects. Just so the glorious effect upon the 
lives of those under the Holy Spirit's influence ( if 
they are led by the Spirit), is manifested to all, and 
cannot be hidden. It was this glorious effect that 
the Brittons saw when they called the heavenly 
news proclaimed by the messengers of peace the 
Goth's spell. 

May God grant that it may soon be preached 
faithfully to all people, and that its benign influ- 
ence may be everywhere visible, in a highly re- 
formed state of society, only one step below the so- 
ciety in the Church Triumphant. And all the glory 
shall be ascribed to Father, Son and Holy Ghost, to 
whom it all justly belongs. 



The Words of Faith. 163 



A TWIN SERMON 



Founded on the Language of Two Ispired Apostles, 
by W. H. Collings — Composed and Written 
March, 1897. 

The 8th and 9th verses of the 2d chapter of 
Ephesians : For by grace are ye saved, through 
faith ; and that not of youselves ; it is the gift of 
God ; not of works lest any man should boast. 

In the great works of redemption and salvation, 
the former of which is distinct from the latter, be- 
cause many will not be finally saved. Yet all have 
been redeemed, and because of this fact there is a 
measure of the Spirit given unto all, or every man. 
In the work of redemption man is exclusively a pas- 
sive agent ; that is to say, the work effected is of 
grace, originating entirely in the love of God. This 
work was wrought for man, not in any sense by 
man. Redemption is therefore the procuring cause 
of man's salvation ; so also man is a passive agent in 
his salvation, For by grace are ye saved. That is 
to say, no man can save himself by anything that he 
can do or leave undone (morality cannot save), be- 
cause this is man's work. There is now, ever has 
been, and ever will be a great difference in the moral 
standing of individuals who have passed the limit of 
infantile justification in the sight of God. Yet Paul 
declares in Romans, the 3d and 10th verse (when 
speaking of this class of persons) : There is none 



164 The Words of Faith. 

righteous, no, not one. Consequently, none can save 
himself, but all need Salvation by Grace. Because 
All have sinned, and come short of glory of God. 
(23d verse of same chapter.) Sin requires a sacrifice 
of a suitable nature and infinite value. For God's 
law is holy, and must be vindicated in man's salva- 
tion, if man is saved. It was, therefore, impossible 
to save man without an adequate substitute, for sin 
cannot go unpunished, and either the sinner or God 
whom he has sinned against, must furnish a substi- 
tute, suitable, therefore, of infinite value (to satisfy 
the holy law of God), and must also be of man's 
nature (before he sinned). And this substitute must 
fulfill the whole law, which man had transgressed, 
and then, by voluntary offering up of his own life 
blood as a sacrifice for man's sin, complete the work 
of atonement. Without shedding of blood is no re- 
mission. (Heb., 9:22.) All this God has furnished 
for man, in the person of His Son, our Lord Jesus 
Christ, who has completed the work for us. This 
is gospel, the best news that ever saluted the human 
ear. 

Second, although man is exclusively a passive 
agent in the work of redemption, God makes his 
salvation to depend upon the faithful discharge of 
his duties as a redeemed creature to his Redeemer. 
The first of these duties is to believe in Him as the 
Son of God. The second is to repent of and forsake 
that for which the Son of God died, which is sin. 
The third is justifying faith, or trust in the atoning 
blood for the pardon of sins committed, which act 
of faith is simultaneous with the new birth, and 



The Words of Faith. 165 

plants in the spiritual kingdom of Christ the person 
who so trusts in Christ. The ordinances, therefore, 
of the visible church, proper as they are, form no 
part of the procuring cause of man's salvation, For 
we are saved by grace. So then, the blessed work of 
salvation has a fixed point from which* to start. And 
God in his dealings with man, always begins at the 
right place (immediately after the fall of man, God 
first takes the man, second the woman, third the 
devil). The truth, is the spiritual nature of man, 
when he sinned, was slain ; and the image of God, 
reflected from the mirror of man's soul, was changed 
to the image of Satan. The whole work must, there- 
fore, be done over again, hence the need of being 
born again. But in order to do this is is indispen- 
sably necessary to be Begotten again of God, so far 
as the spiritual nature of man is concerned. Com- 
pare the 3d verse of the 1st chapter of the 1st Epis- 
tle of Peter with the 23d verse of the same chapter. 
Mean fleshly seed, and spiritual seed. Therefore 
they furnish no foundation for the erronious doc- 
trine of the unconditional salvation of all who have 
teen born into the spiritual kingdom by regenera- 
tion. The word perseverance occurs but once in 
the Scriptures — Ephesians, 7th chapter and 18th 
verse — and here it is a conditional, not an uncondi- 
tional perseverance ; and it means that, having com- 
menced in a course of duty here laid down, we are 
to continue therein until the end of life, as the 
means of safety. The first work of begetting con- 
stitutes the first impulses of the human affections 
towards God in Christ Jesus, which results in 



166 The Words of Faith. 

prayer to God ; and the second work of the new- 
birth is the step, or act of faith in the atoning blood, 
and here is where the sinner lays down his sins at 
the foot of the cross, and performs the first duties 
of an active agent in working out his own salvation 
with fear and trembling, knowing that God is work- 
ing in him to will and to do of his good pleasure, and 
receives for the same a share in Christ's righteous- 
ness. This is the step which translates the sinner 
from a point not far from the kingdom of God right 
into that kingdom, and places him in possession of 
the earnest of his future inheritance (if he remains 
faithful unto death) ; which earnest is a vivid sense 
of pardoned sin, and the love of a reconciled Father 
in God, which he sensibly experiences, creating 
sweet peace, and sometimes joy in his heart. 

Now, all this is work of the Spirit, and as long 
as we permit that Spirit to lead us, we are the chil- 
dren of God. But the Spirit never leads us into sin. 
Nor can any creature separate us from the love of 
God in Christ. But sin is not a creature. As long 
as we remain in Christ we cannot sin, because His 
seed remaineth in us. Sin is a voluntary act of re- 
bellion against God, and wilfull, premeditated sin 
constitutes the step out of Christ, and places man 
the second time in the ranks of Satan. 

Of course, it is necessary for the Christian to 
be ever on the watch, and to maintain a constant 
faith in Christ, to keep the channel open between 
Him and the soul. To these minor defilements of 
sin our Saviour alludes. When he said, "He that is 
washed need not, save to wash his feet," and to 



The Words of Faith. 167 

Peter, "If I wash thee not thou has no part with 
me." It is useless to say that God makes no excep- 
tions to his own appointed means of grace, or rather 
ordinances of the visible church, to lead a soul to 
Christ. (Facts prove the contrary.) Take for in- 
stance, the case of Saul of Tarsus : God did the 
first work in this case, as he does in every other sin- 
ner's conversion, in quite a different way, however. 
Here I will just say: Let none presume to expect 
God will perform a miracle to save them, except 
the miracle of gospel grace. He did it in Paul's 
case, and had just reasons for so doing. But as a 
rule God does not deviate from the ordinary course 
of Providence, when this course is available to man. 

While Saul was in the very act of committing 
the most grevious sin, by persecuting His Son, in 
■the persons of Christians, he was arrested in his 
mad career by the audible voice of the Son of God, 
whose terrible countenance shown upon him like 
an avalanche of light from the celestial hills, trans- 
cending the sun when in the meridian, and struck 
him to the ground, thus depriving Satan of one of 
his most effective allies, in order to employ him 
Himself in building up that church which he was so 
assiduously engaged in destroying. At this point in 
Paul's history he become a passive agent in the 
work of his salvation, for he tells us he was not dis- 
obedient to the Divine command, and he was soon 
engaged in preaching that gospel to others, which, 
up to this time, he had rejected with scorn and dis- 
dain himself. 

Let none suppose from the words of our text 



168 The Words of Faith. 

that we have no part to act in the work of securing 
our salvation. This is a common mistake into 
which Satan leads thousands to ruin. All persons 
become active agents in the work of securing their 
salvation. 

So that, while Salvation is the free or unmerited 
gift of God, inclusive also of the part which God 
acts in unison with man, when he (man) exercises 
saving faith in Christ, man at this point becomes an 
active agent, as well as a passive agent, not in the 
work of his salvation, but in securing it to himself. 
And right here commences what is designed to be 
his life work of religion. But let us examine the 
text on this point: 

"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and 
that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of 
works ; lest any man should boast." 

This faith must be of the operation of God (if 
it be justifying faith, by which alone any person 
can live a Christian in the sight of God). See Col- 
ossians, the 2d and 12th verse. Therefore, this 
faith cannot be exercised without the assistance of 
the Holy Ghost. Mark the words of the text, "And 
that not of yourselves." No man can exercise this 
faith, when he chooses to, just to suit his own con- 
venience ; but he can only exercise it when the 
Spirit begets in him the Divine principle which is 
indispensably necessary. See Proverbs, the 1st 
chapter and from the 24th to 31st verses. There- 
fore quench not the spirit, for he does not always 
come to our help. But to return to our subject: 
This faith is the point of union between the saved 



The Words of Faith. 169 

soul and the saving grace ; at which point the per- 
son saved first assumes the obligations, and first per- 
forms the duties of an active, as well as passive, 
agent, in the work of securing his salvation. But 
remember, this act of faith is the full, voluntary and 
unreserved consent of the believer's will to throw 
himself upon God's promise of pardon, justification, 
sanctification and eternal life in and through the 
blood of Jesus Christ. And this faith is in no sense 
the cause of man's salvation, which is all of God's 
free grace in Christ. Again, this faith cannot be 
classed with man's works, because he cannot exer- 
cise it without God's help. 

"Not of works (that is, man's works), lest any 
man should boast." Now, it is evident to my mind, 
from these last words, that the ordinance oi bap- 
tism, in the visible church on earth ,w r as appointed 
by Christ, as the door of admission into that church 
for the purpose of enabling man the better to secure 
his salvation. Baptism, therefore, administered in 
any form, cannot possibly be a saving ordinance, 
either figuratively or otherwise, because it necessar- 
ily involves the work of man. I am not speaking of 
Holy Ghost baptism. I believe more have been 
saved without baptism than with it; yet it is the 
duty of all who love the Saviour to be baptized, 
also to have their children placed within the pales of 
the visible church of Christ, for God does not re- 
quire faith of them because they are without the 
law. 

In conclusion, and in order to make the process 
by which a person, under the condemnation of the 



170 The Words of Faith. 

broken law of God, and the 'terrible influences of the 
carnal mind, can secure the justifying grace of sav- 
ing faith as clear as possible, I have thought a state- 
ment of the following facts may be conducive to this 
end: 

First — There exists a book which is claimed by 
all who have either studied it themselves or heard it 
explained correctly (except the confirmed atheist 
or infidel, who, I believe, claims to belong to the 
monkey race), to be a revelation of the Law and will 
of the Supreme Being, who is Creator and God of 
the universe, together with all creatures contained 
in it, both material and spiritual. Now, the fact that 
some believe this is a true history, but some do not, 
proves that all can believe if they will ; therefore, all 
men even in their unregenerated state are capable of 
exercising faith in God this far ; and "He that Com- 
eth unto God must believe that He is." But that this 
faith does not change their relation to God is ob- 
vious, for they are not reconciled to God. Neither 
is God reconciled to them, because they rebel 
against His government, and disregard his Laws. 

My second proposition is the fact that all, even 
every one who has the Law, is either under the con- 
demnation of a broken Law, or under Grace, which 
releases him from that condemnation, because all 
are guilty of transgressing the Law. The question, 
therefore, how did the difference in the situation of 
these two parties take place, is a most important 
one, and in describing the process, I will endeavor 
to make it as clear as possible, in all cases where 
persons are simply passive agents, and in all cases 



The Words of Faith. 171 

wherein their active agency is necessary to enable 
them to secure the justifying grace of saving faith. 
The first work is conviction of sin; that is, a deep 
sense of the guilt of past sin, clinging to the soul, 
and a sense of the displeasure and wrath of God as 
the result of guilt, and such a condition as this, in 
a person's soul, can only be produced by the Holy 
Ghost, and by Him is produced in all persons under 
the Law at some time during life, for Jesus Christ 
says : He (the Holy Ghost) shall reprove the world 
of sin. Paul says : "The grace of God that bringeth 
salvation hath appeared in all men." Therefore, all 
are convinced of sin by the Holy Ghost, and if they 
do not repent, have no excuse to make before God 
(for God is not a hard master, expecting to reap 
where He did not sow). Thus far man is exclusive- 
ly a passive agent, and God has a right to expect 
man to obey his command to repent, because the in- 
fluences of His Holy Spirit upon the carnal mind 
makes repentance possible. Therefore man, when 
under the convicting influences of God's spirit, is 
capable of repenting, but not without Divine aid; 
neither doth God require it. Peter says : "The God 
of our fathers hath raised up Jesus, whom ye slew, 
and hanged on a tree. Him hath God exalted with 
his right hand to be a Prince, and a Saviour, for to 
give repentance to Israel." 

Repentance comes next to conviction of sin, 
and is the second step toward the justifying grace 
of Saving Faith. In taking this step the person be- 
comes an active, as well as a passive agent, in se- 
curing; but not in procuring his salvation; for it 



172 The Words of Faith. 

is of grace, procured by the Blood of Christ alone. 
There is, however, such a thing as a counterfeit re- 
pentance, called the sorrow of the world, which 
worketh death, and effects man with reference to 
himself and his personal and temporal interests. 
But Godly sorrow is of grace and produced by the 
Holy Spirit of God. It affects man with reference 
to his obligations to God. 

But genuine repentance necessarily includes the 
work of man, in unison with the work of God, for 
it is not only genuine sorrow for sin, but also forsak- 
ing sin, or ceasing to do or say evil, and doing and 
saying that wdiich is right in the sight of God to 
the utmost extent of our knowledge and ability. 
In a word, it involves a life of uniform conformity 
with the Gospel Law. But the first part of repent- 
ance, or Godly sorrow, is turned into joy by the 
same spirit that produced it, when the next step, 
or step of justifying faith is taken. 

This work (originating in Godly sorrow for 
sin), to-wit: The work of resisting sin, is the most 
important part of repentance, and continues through 
life, but under the influence of that "faith which 
works by love," and if we fail to perform this duty 
we fail to secure our salvation. All sin, of every 
kind, must be abandoned ; if we entertain Christ, it 
is a mistaken notion to suppose we can serve God 
and self, the world and the devil, at the same time, 
for this is an absolute impossibility. "No man can 
serve two masters." (Jesus Christ.) This step of 
justifying faith, which follows conviction of sin, and 
repentance, is the third step in the right direction 



The Words of Faith. 173 

for salvation ; removes the person from under the 
condemnation of the Law, and places him in the 
kingdom of grace, and this faith is of the operation 
of God, for flesh and blood cannot reveal the fact 
unto man that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living 
God, and that He atoned for his sins, upon the cross, 
and this is the kind of faith all must exercise to se- 
cure forgiveness of sin, and is quite different from 
the faith preceding repentance. And it entails the 
unreserved surrender of his whole heart to God. 
(Hear, oh Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord, 
and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy 
heart), and renders man as truly an active agents 
as he is a passive agent, in securing the blessing of 
pardon and placing himself in the kingdom of grace. 
Before this, he was weighed down with a heavy load 
of sin and guilt, and sorely oppressed with a sense 
of the wrath of an offended God, but hearing the 
gospel news, that the Son of God was nailed to the 
cross for his sins, he ventures to trust in the aton- 
ing blood for God's merciful forgiveness of the 
same, and realizes the fact that God's justice and 
mercy embrace each other in Christ, and stand en- 
gaged to pardon the true penitent who so trusts in 
Him." He that believeth on the Son, hath everlast- 
ing life;" that is, he has it while he believes. The 
person ventures to trust in Jesus, and oh, what a 
thrill of heavenly joy and sweet peace flows through 
his inner man, and sometimes his outer man is pros- 
trated with the effect of this new spiritual life ; 
which he experiences for the first time. He claims no 
righteousness of works, nor does he feel the need 



174 The Words of Faith. 

of them, for he knows that he is clad with 'the 
wedding garment of Christ's righteousness; but he 
is only just inside the kingdom of grace; it is not 
the will of God that he should remain here, but go 
on unto perfection until glory ends what grace be- 
gan. It is not God's intention for him always to 
remain a babe in Christ, but that he should grow 
in grace into a strong man, and engage his strength, 
time and talents in the business of his new master 
who has promised to furnish him with all necessary 
means for this end for just the asking. This brings 
me to the last part of my subject, which I will en- 
deavor to base upon these words of the Apostle 
Peter. But grow in grace and in the knowledge of 
our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 

Second Epistle of Peter, 3rd chapter and 18th 
verse : But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of 
our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. 

The verb grow, in this admonition, means de- 
velopment, enlargement and numerical increase of 
those graces that beautify the Christian character, 
qualifies the Christian for the performance of his 
duties, secures him from the dangers to which he 
is exposed, facilitates his progress in Divine favor, 
and finally land him in the Paradise of God. 

This epistle was designed for those persons 
who had obtained like precious faith in our Lord 
and Saviour Jesus Christ, that is, to all true Chris- 
tians. The language of the text, therefore, can only 
be understood and appreciated by those for whom 
it was designed ; that is, those who have passed 
through the straight gate of repentance and are in 



The Words of Faith. 175 

the narrow way that leads to life. In fact, this much 
is implied in the text. And we take it for granted 
that all persons will readily admit that, if this ad- 
monition is good and suitable advice to these people, 
it also is good advice to all the regenerated children 
of God, in all ages, but most especially so to all 
young converts. This is plainly the design of God 
For the believer enjoys special privileges unknown 
to the unbeliever; but he is, nevertheless, a weak, 
needy creature still, and without constant access 
to the fountain, whence he derives all his support, 
he soon becomes stunted and fruitless ; finally he 
withers and dies, as the Apostle Jude says : "Twice 
dead, plucked up by the roots.'' (Jude, 12th verse.) 
It is a most important thing to keep the sheep of 
Christ's flock in a thriving condition, and to see 
to it that they have fat pastures of gospel grace upon 
which to feed, with a plentiful supply of the Water 
of Life, flowing constantly to them, through God's 
appointed channels, which are the means of grace. 
(Of course I refer to the public means of grace, for 
the private means of grace are available to the be- 
liever, independently of the visible church.) The 
Christian needs these helps, and has a right to ex- 
pect, and demand them, of his church, because he is 
in an enemy's country, exposed to temptation and 
tribulation in a great many ways. Yes, we need all 
the help that God has promised, and it is our priv- 
ilege to ask large blessings of Him that is able to 
do exceedingly above all we can ask or think, ac- 
cording to the power that worketh in us (that is, 
our faith). 



176 The Words of Faith. 

Now then, we have the inestimable privilege of 
pleading the promise contained in the ist Epistle 
of John, the ist chapter and 9th verse. If we con- 
fess our sins, He is faithful, and just, to forgive our 
sins ; and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 
Here we have a sure promise of a double blessing. 
Forgiveness and sanctification, but only through 
the blood of Christ, which was shed for the sins of 
mankind, and which alone can save from the guilt 
of past sin. The guilt of sin has to be obliterated, 
for God will in no wise clear the guilty, but this 
blood also destroys the power of reigning sin in 
our members, by destroying its fibrous roots, which 
are forever striving to spring up and torment the 
Christian who is contented to remain in an unsanc- 
tifled state. 

Now the promise is to cleanse from all un- 
righteousness, therefore to cleanse from inbred sin. 
John says if we say we have no sin we deceive our- 
selves. But Paul says, Romans, 6th and 14th, "For 
sin shall not have dominion over you." It follows 
as a necessary consequence of these things, that 
those who believe the blood of Christ only secures 
for us the forgiveness of past sin in the present life, 
and leaves the believer to contend with the living 
roots of inbred sin until death releases him from 
their reigning power, greatly undervalue that pre- 
cious blood. The sense of pardon and peace which 
the justified Christian enjoys occasionally, are very 
refreshing to him, but the dark seasons and unholy 
passions plainly prove that the roots of sin still re- 
main in us, ever striving to crop out in our lives. 



The Words of Faith. 177 

In the 3d verse of the 3d chapter of the 2d 
Epistle of Peter we have these words: "Knowing 
this first, that there shall come in the last days 
scoffers, walking after their own lusts." These are 
the days in which this Scripture is being fulfilled. 
Again there shall be false teachers among you who 
(privily) shall bring in damnable heresies, even de- 
nying the Lord that bought them, and shall bring 
upon themselves swift destruction. Which proves 
they who perish were bought with the Blood of 
Christ. 

Brethren, there are still wolves in sheep's cloth- 
ing prowling about in Christ's flock, and I fear their 
number is increasing. It was to fortify and fore- 
warn Christians of their danger in this respect that 
Peter exhorts them to grow in grace. But can all 
Christians, in every stage of Christian experience, 
grow in grace ; admitting that some only enjoy a 
sense of the pardon of past sin, and others having, 
availed themselves of the exceeding great and pre- 
cious promises, are enabled to rejoice in the fact of 
their own experience, that the blood of Jesus Christ, 
His Son, cleanses from all sin. They know the 
meaning of Jesus Christ's words : "He that is 
washed needeth not, save to wash his feet. And ye 
are washed, but not all." (Not Judas.) I answer 
growth in grace is quite as possible, as it is desira- 
ble, for all ; in fact, it is indispensably necessary in 
all cases. But there are some thoughts relating to 
this subject that we desire to communicate, as 
briefly as we can, to make them plain. 

First, What we understand by the terms, Grace 



178 The Words of Faith. 

and Grow. 

Second, What means are necessary to secure 
these results, namely: The development and ex- 
pansion of the Divine nature in man. 

Third, Some of the criterion by which we can 
ascertain how far we fail, and how far we succeed 
in our efforts. 

Fourth, What we understand by growing in 
the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus 
Christ. 

First, the word grace has various significa- 
tions, one of which is Favor ; in this sense it involves 
the necessity of two parties, one of which is a cred- 
itor, and the other a debtor. The former is sup- 
posed to grant the grace for the exclusive benefit of 
the latter. Hence, the three days of grace allowed 
by law in some cases, after a promissory note be- 
comes due. Again, we speak of a kingdom of grace. 
.Now a kingdom is a tract of country containnig a 
population governed by a king, whose laws, if the 
people are loyal subjects, they obey. In the case un- 
der consideration the king is King of Kings, Lord 
of Lords ; 'the Creator and Governor of the universe. 
But the peculiar territory in this case in which 
He reigns, is the true Church Militant, which is 
peopled by all the just who live by faith in the Son 
of God. Now in relation to this meaning of the 
word grace, to grow in it signifies to get more into 
the favor of God. But how? Answer — By studying 
the example of Christ's life, and imitating it so far 
as we are able. He went about doing good. Let it 
be remembered, that to experience the power of the 



The Words of Faith. 179 

blood of Christ to cleanse from past sin is the nega- 
tive part of Christian perfection. Christ said to his 
disciples: "Be ye, therefore, perfect, even as your 
Father which is in Heaven is perfect." The main 
point is that Christ may dwell in the heart, and 
make it His permanent home. Then shall we be 
filled with all the communicable fullness of God, and 
like Jesus go about doing good also. But there is 
a word that expresses a peculiar meaning of the 
word grace, quite as appropriate to our subject as 
favor, and that word is beauty. True Christianity 
is the most beautiful thing in this world, and the 
more we have of it the more beautiful will our 
character shine out into the world, for it is impos- 
sible to conceal it. He that succeeds in hiding it 
smothers it out of existence, as the oxygen in the air 
is indispensably necessary to sustain animal life, 
so vital union with Christ, by living, working faith 
is necessary to sustain spiritual life in the soul. 
And the more completely we are clad with Christ's 
righteousness the more lovely shall we appear in 
the sight of God, who will recognize in us the image 
of His beloved Son. He will smile upon us with a 
love of complacency, for He will see His Son in 
us, who will act like a lodestone in us to attract the 
Father's love toward us, and as we increase in the 
beauty of holiness we shall grow in the grace or 
favor of God. 

But what other means are necessary to secure 
the development and expansion of the Divine na- 
ture in man? 

Evidently the appointed means of grace, for 



180 The Words of Faith. 

God is consistent with Himself in all His laws, eith- 
er of nature or grace. It is manifestly not His de- 
sign, when a man is born into the world, that he 
should always remain an infant, but that he should 
grow up into a strong and useful man, for the ac- 
complishment of which end He has furnished all 
the necessary means. And just so, our Heavenly 
Father does not intend when a soul is born of the 
spirit into the kingdom of Christ, that it should al- 
ways remain a babe in Christ. But, alas, as in the 
days of St. Paul, too many are contented to remain 
in this condition, and have need to be fed with milk 
when they ought to be fathers and mothers in Is- 
rael. 

Even weak, short-sighted man himself, when 
he inserts the bud of a fruit tree into some other 
tree, does not perform the operation merely to dem- 
onstrate the fact that it is possible to effect the 
union between the two, and thus make the bud live 
upon the sap supplied by a foreign root ; but he does 
it in hope that the bud will continue to live, which ; 
however, it does not always do, but dies while it is 
yet a bud, after a perfect union has been effected, 
and leaving the piece of wood and bark inserted 
with it still living and growing. The man hoped, 
however, that it would grow up into a fine, healthy 
f ree, and bear the desired fruit. 

Neither does God design when he grafts into 
Christ any branch, either Jew of Gentile, that that 
branch after the union is effected shall remain fruit- 
less, because the vital principle of new spiritual 
life, represented in the figure, by the new sap, is cut 



The Words of Faith. 181 

off from it, rendering it fruitless and barren, not- 
withstanding it is still united to the visible church. 

Jesus Christ says : All such branches shall be 
removed. Notice this operation in grace (as St, 
Paul says) is contrary to the one in nature, for in 
nature the bud determines the kind of fruit, but in 
grace the vital principle of Divine Life (represent- 
ed by new sap) performs this office. 

Now if we take the first figure of a new born 
babe, we shall see how consistent God is with all 
His laws. Better even than in the figure of the 
branch. 

I suppose the first thing the babe does after it 
is born is to breathe, for it is indispensably neces- 
sary for its lungs to be inflated with air, and good 
is it for that child if the air surrounding it is pure 
and of the proper temperature, with a due propor- 
tion of oxygen. Just so with the new convert. 
About the first thing he does is to inhale into his 
soul the atmosphere of the visible church. How 
necessary, then, that that atmosphere should be 
pure and of the proper temperature, and not ren- 
dered unhealthy, either by the extreme of mere ani- 
mal excitement on the one hand, or stoical indiffer- 
ence on the other hand, manifested in the icy cold- 
ness of some professors of religion in the visible 
church. I believe Satan uses both these extremes to 
the great disadvantage of Christians, but more es- 
pecially does he delight to see the spiritual atmos- 
phere of that church tained with the poison of false 
doctrine. When this gains a permanent foothold on 



182 The Words of Faith. 

the man it requires more than human reason can 
furnish to dislodge it. 

The similitude of these two cases in nature 
and grace is plainly noticeable, and we can venture 
to use the former as an object lesson to illustrate 
the latter. 

The living child first, breathes ; second, tries its 
vocal powers in a plaintive cry; third, moves its 
limbs ; fourth, opens its eyes to behold its surround- 
ings ; fifth, takes nourishment furnished either by 
its mother or its nurse. After submitting to this 
treatment for awhile (if it is healthy) it generally 
shows increase in bulk and weight; but in some 
cases is may be necessary to administer a little med- 
icine ; in fact, this may be useful at intervals all 
through life. Seventh, as the child grows, it is 
necessary, or at least desirable, that it should have 
plenty of open air exercise, in order that it should 
be healthy and strong. 

Now let us see wherein all this applies in the 
Christian. We have already shown how breathing 
applies to him. Second, how does the use of its 
vocal powers apply to him? David saia: "And He 
hath put a new song in my mouth." The new con- 
vert always feels like singing this new song of praise 
to God the very first thing he does after inhaling the 
pure atmosphere of Christ's spiritual kingdom, and 
he ought by all means to give vent to his feelings in 
the visible church. 

Third, the babe moves its limbs. And it is best 
for the young convert in his early Christian life to 
take an active part in church work, especially in 



The Words of Faith. 183 

pointing others to Christ. The young convert, if 
he is filled with the love of God, can exercise a pow- 
erful influence upon the minds of other young peo- 
ple to draw them to Christ, and he should let that 
influence be felt, for it greatly assists in promoting 
his own growth in grace. 

Fourth, the babe opens its eyes. And so does 
the young convert, in order to see how professing 
Christians live. How important to observe and live 
the admonition : "If we live in the spirit, let us also 
walk in the spirit." Except we walk in the spirit 
the young Christian can get no benefit from our ex- 
ample. David said, Many shall see it fear, and 
trust in the Lord. 

Fifth, the child takes suitable food. The 
Christian also requires suitable nourishment, and he 
has a right to expect it. God says : "Open thy 
mouth wide, and I will fill it." But how, except 
through the channel of the means of gospel grace, 
which the visible church claims to furnish. Ques- 
tion, does he get the pure gospel in its unadulterat- 
ed state, through these channels, or is the food 
supplied poisoned with false doctrine? If so, woe 
be to that church ! 

Sixth, Sometimes people require a dose or 
two of medicine, and very few persons like it. The 
Christian also requires a little spurring up to his 
duty occasionally. But the chastisements of God 
are not always signs of His displeasure. For whom 
the Lord loveth He rebuketh, etc. If ye be without 
chastisement then are ye bastards, and not sons. 
This kind of chastisement is meant for our good, 



184 The Words of Faith. 

by promoting our growth in grace. Let us, there- 
fore, kiss the hand that uses the rod. 

Seventh, open air exercise is calculated to pro- 
mote a healthy growth in children. So let the Chris- 
tian carry his religion with him wherever he goes, 
and wear the garment of righteousness every day, 
in all his dealings with his fellow man, in the world, 
as well as in the church. This will promote a 
healthy growth. Now this growth consists in the 
expansion of those principles. Begotten in the 
Christian, by the Holy Ghost, and this growth, or 
expansion, is illustrated by the dissolving views. 
Take the picture of an acorn ; fix your eye upon it, 
and you see it gradually swell, then burst open, 
send out a tiny root at one end and a sprout at the 
other end, which soon becomes a tree, and finally a 
huge oak tree, with spreading and towering 
branches covered with beautiful foliage and fruit. 
And God's design is that the Christian should do 
likewise. But St. Peter, in the first chapter of this 
Epistle, gives us this example in addition, which 
implies growth, not only by expansion of what we 
have, but also by means of numerical increase in 
our graces : But add to faith (which you already 
have), virtue to virtue, knowledge to knowledge, 
temperance to temperance, patience to patience, 
Godliness to Godliness, Brotherly kindness to broth- 
erly kindness, charity (seven of them.) First, vir- 
tue is to be added to faith. The term virtue has 
more than one meaning, but we learn its true mean- 
ing in this category of graces, from the language 
of Peter. Speaking of some within the pale of the 



The Words of Faith. 185 

visible church, in the 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th 
verses of the 2d chapter of this Epistle, which you 
can read. Virtue is, therefore, of paramount impor- 
tance, and is placed first in the list, next to faith. 
These seven graces (in addition to faith), are all 
necessary to form a perfect Christian character, and 
if these be in us and abount they make us that we 
shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowl- 
edge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Now 
let us take these qualities, that help to constitute 
the character of a true Christian, one by one, and 
examine them. We have already determined the 
meaning of the word virtue, from St. Peter's lan- 
guage, before alluded to, which you can read. If 
every professing Christian was virtuous, we would 
have no scandals in the church. But, alas, the ene- 
mies of Christ have almost countless opportunities 
to swear and scoff at Christianity on account of the 
fall of professing Christians, even in high places in 
the church. Oh, the flesh, the flesh, is a close stick- 
ing enemy, and we are always exposed to Satanic 
attacks through this medium. Let us, therefore, 
cultivate a virtuous spirit by being chaste in our 
dealings, associations and intercourse with others. 
Lord, lead us not into temptation, and help us not to 
run into it, but to get as far as possible from the 
stumbling block which might throw us back into 
the mire clay of the horrible pit. 

And to virtue, knowledge. God ordained the 
visible church, not only to collect its members out 
of the world, but also to educate them. It is, there- 
fore, their privilege to expect and demand of that 



186 The Words of Faith. 

church that education which belongs to them in 
the Divine mysteries of true Christianity as revealed 
in the gospel ; and if that church performs its duty, 
they will be likely to grow in knowledge. 

And to knowledge, temperance. We can be in- 
temperate in anything. Therefore, if anything 
proves to be a stumbling block, or interrupts our 
progress in the Divine Life, guard against the ex- 
cessive use of that thing, or shun it. Divine in- 
spiration teaches us that the love of money is the 
root of all evil, by which I understand the intem- 
perate love. Therefore, I think it proper to place 
this kind of intemperance at the head of the list of 
all kinds of intemperance. Most kinds of intemper- 
ance are more or less injurious to society, as well 
as to those who indulge in them. But the intemper- 
ate love of money is the most selfish kind of intem- 
perance in existence. What is there that some men 
will not do for money? They will steal, rob, swin- 
dle, wherever and whenever they can, even from 
widows and orphans, from the rich or the poor, 
and even barter their souls away for the gold God. 
There is, however, another kind of intemperance, 
which is extremely bad and dangerous, especially 
for those who indulge in it. The intemperate use of 
intoxicating liquors. Paul says let your moderation 
be known unto all men ; but the immoderate use of 
these is easily detected, because it steals the senses 
and slays the manhood of man, converting him into 
a sort of half-way between man and beast. Never- 
theless, I fail to see where the temperate or moder- 
ate use of wine is prohibited in the sacred Scrip- 



The Words of Faith. 187 

tures. In fact, an inspired apostle on one occasion 
recommended the use of a little wine. But the big- 
oted Jew charged John the Baptist with having a 
devil because he did not use it; and Jesus Christ 
with being a wine bibber because he did use it. 
Xow this proves that both ways are right, under 
some circumstances. St. Paul says whatsoever is 
not of faith is sin. Therefore, what is sin to one 
person is not always sin to another in the matter of 
drinking wine, in moderation. No doubt if Jesus 
Christ was upon the earth in his human nature the 
religious fanatics of today would charge him with 
being a wine bibber. 

And to temperance, patience. This is the grace 
that greatly aids in laying the rough paths of life 
even. It helps us to shun or surmount little diffi- 
culties, and to bear with Christian fortitude the 
evils which sometimes result to us from the ill treat- 
ment of others. We all need it, more or less, at 
times in our pathway through life, not only in the 
church, and the world, but also in the family circle. 
When Satan made his first attempt to ruin man he 
assailed him through the medium of woman. He 
has not yet forgotten his tactics. But he some- 
times changes his front by assailing the woman 
through the medium of her husband. We also need 
patience to await God's time to relieve us of tribula- 
tion, for we must have this. The redeemed in 
Heaven came up out of great tribulation. "Now no 
chastening for the present is joyous, but grievous 
nevertheless. Afterward it yieldeth the peaceable 
fruit of righteousness." David said : "It was good for 



188 The Words of Faith. 

me that I was afflicted." Millions of God's children 
can say the same thing. Therefore, it behooves us 
to be resigned, and patience implies resignation. 

And to patience, Godliness. I fear there is a 
sad lack of bold, open Godliness amongst profes- 
sing Christians, but thank God there are many hon- 
orable exceptions. Godliness means God-likeness. 
And it has to be added to patience. We should,, 
therefore, demonstrate to all who know us that 
Jesus Christ and ourselves are on the most intimate 
terms of friendship, every day, so that being con- 
stantly with Him, we are gradually changing into 
His likeness. And our lives (to a limited extent) 
reflect the picture of His life, while on earth. 

And to Godliness, brotherly kindness. What a 
blessed effect this has upon our fellow Christians, 
if we show by our gentle, kind treatment that we 
look upon them as our near and dear relations in 
Christ Jesus. How it inspires them with love, too, 
and confidence in us, especially if they are young 
converts. May God fill our hearts so full of His 
love that it may flow out toward them in such 
copious streams that no misunderstanding can in- 
tercept. And this will be the case if we add to 
brotherly kindness, charity, which means love, to 
God first, and to his children next. This is the 
crowning grace. Faith and hope will vanish when 
realization takes their place, but love will live on 
through eternity. 

Now we will notice the criterion, by which we 
can assertain our growth in grace. In doing this we 
propose to follow out the same line of illustrations 



The Wokds of Faith. 189 

heretofore employed. We will take, for example, 
the two figures of a little child and a full grown, 
strong, healthy man. 

The little child canno 1 " make a very loud noise* 
at first, because its vocal powers are not sufficiently 
developed. Neither can it digest food that older 
persons can. As to locomotion, it first crawls, and 
as it gains strength and courage it tries to walk, 
by holding on to some object to steady itself. But 
it finally gains enough strength and confidence in 
itself to make the attempt to walk without help, but 
its journeys are short, and generally end in a fall. 
As it continues to practice it improves in the art of 
walking, and finally becomes strong enough to run. 
But a very slight obstruction in its path, such as a 
bit of stick, causes it to fall to the ground, frequently 
occasioning a pitiful cry for help. It is not yet 
strong enough to contend with storms or tempests, 
or to undertake long journeys, except under the fos- 
tering care of its guardians. Neither can it secure 
to itself those things necessary for its comfort and 
sustenance, even when they have been provided by 
others. Neither are its intellectual faculties devel- 
oped. Its brain (which is the seat of the mind), is 
so soft that it cannot retain an impression made 
upon it long enough to communicate that impres- 
sion or, rather, intelligence, to the mind. The im- 
pression disappears as soon as it is made, like a 
mark produced by a person who draws his finger 
over a smooth surface of water. So that the child 
is incapable of reasoning, and has to depend upon 
being told in a very plain and simple way. 



190 The Words of Faith. 

Now just notice the similitude between this 
case and that of a young convert in his e^.rly experi- 
ences. The young Christian feels like singing the 
song of praise, but as a rule he cannot sing very 
loud or very long, not being sufficiently developed 
in his new life. Neither can he, inwardly digest the 
more substantial spiritual food of gospel truth, suit- 
able for more advanced Christians, but has to feed 
upon the first rudiments of Christianity until he 
becomes stronger. At first he cannot engage in 
church work, because he needs all the help he can 
get himself, and of course feeels that he can do lit- 
tle or nothing toward helping others before he can 
walk himself. He, however, begins to grow in 
grace and gain strength. Then he can do a little 
for God's glory in the church. But he is not yet 
capable of contending with the storms and tempests 
that sometimes rage in the atmosphere of the 
church, and he is much safer if he keeps away 
from them, if he possibly can. Neither does he feel 
competent to ramble about in the churches, lest he 
should be entrapped by error, which food would be 
bad for his soul, for his spiritual intellect is not suf- 
ficiently developed to enable him to grapple with 
false doctrine. 

Now let us see wherein the case of a full grown 
man differs from all this, and T think we shall dis- 
cover the criterion by which we can ascertain our 
standing in grace, (i) The man can shout loud and 
long, except his lungs are too weak. (2) If he is in 
health he does not want to be fed on infant's food; 
he desires good substantial food. (3) Neither does 



The Words of Faith. 191 

he creep about; his muscles have attained sufficient 
firmness to enable him to walk ; nor does a small 
stick in his pathway throw him down. He feels 
quite able to walk without leading strings, and 
would scorn the idea of a guardian over him. He 
cares nothing for small sticks or even trees, if he can 
see them. (4) He can venture boldly out into the 
storm, if duty calls him, and engage in the perform- 
ance of that duty except the storm be too terrific, 
in which case he retires for shelter awhile, and then 
goes back to finish his work. (5) He can-and does 
frequently take long journeys, by both land and sea, 
He can, with God's blessing, secure his own living, 
and if his intellectual faculties are sufficiently de- 
veloped, he can grapple with and solve the most dif- 
ficult and intricate problems in the mathematics that 
are capable of solution. (6) He can delve deep into 
the earth and bring to light its mineral treasures. 

Now notice the similitude between this case of 
a full grown man, and a full grown man of God, in 
the church of Jesus Christ, that is to say Christ's 
spiritual kingdom. (1) The man of God knows how 
to sing His praise, and he does it in the midst of 
God's people ; he tells what God has done for him, 
and the people see the truth of his words demon- 
strated by his life. (2) He can enjoy and digest the 
strong meat of spiritual food furnished in the gos- 
pel. (3) He can engage actively in the work of 
pointing sinners to Christ, and helping to build up 
believers in the faith by which they live. (4) If 
storms and tempests prevail in the church he can do 
a great deal toward abating the fury of the storms. 



192 The Words of Faith. 

His spiritual faculties are sufficiently developed to 
enable him to grapple with false doctrine, and extri- 
cate from a huge pile of the rubbish of error the 
pearl of Divine truth. 

Christians, which of these conditions is most 
like your spiritual condition, that of the child, or 
that of the full grown, strong and vigorous man? 

Next we pass on to notice what is meant by 
growing in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour 
Jesus Christ. And here we have a beautiful illus- 
tration, in the Woman's Missionary Advocate, of 
February, 1897, page 251. It is as follows: 

A Korean Christian was asked how long he had 
known the Saviour. Three months, he answered. 
Surely longer, replied the enquirer, for you have 
been a Christian two years. Yes, he said, I have 
known something of the Saviour for two years ; but 
Himself, I have only known for three months. 

It is a lamentable fact that vast numbers in thfc 
different branches of the visible church are like this 
Korean Christian — they know Jesus Christ only by 
hearsay, ami even worse, for they are contented to 
remain ignorant of a saving knowledge of Christ 
all their lives. Not one of these persons is in the 
Kingdom of God, however near some of them may 
have been to that kingdom. They are contented 
with the thought that they have publicly acknowl- 
edged the truth of what has been told them of this 
remarkable stranger (who lived and suffered in this 
world eighteen hundred years ago), by being bap- 
tized and subsequently repenting. Now this is all 
man's work, and if he can be saved by this alone, he 



The Words of Faith. 193 

can be saved by works alone, without grace, or a 
vital union (by justifying faith) with Christ. These 
persons treat Jesus as a stranger, and are ashamed 
to come out and confess a personal acquaintance 
with Him, because they have none to confess. They 
do not seem to have a correct understanding of the 
glorious truth uttered by our Lord in the 23d verse 
of the 14th chapter of John: If a man love me, he 
will keep my words, and my Father will love him ; 
and we will come unto him, and make our abode 
with him. 

If we love the Saviour, as we ought to, we shall 
have confidence in Him, and trust our destinies in 
His hands, for a free, present and full salvation. He 
will no longer be a stranger to us, but a near and 
dear bosom friend, far more so than any creature. 
For he that loveth any thing more than Jesus is not 
worthy of Him. And Jesus will reveal unto us the 
grand secret of His love, which those who know 
Him only at a distance by hearsay can never have. 
For not every one that sayeth unto Him, Lord, 
Lord, shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. ? 

Oh for a closer walk with God, 
A calm and Heavenly frame. 



194 The Words of Faith. 



THE PARABLE OF THE TEN VIRGINS. 



The Gospel by St. Mathew in the First Thirteeen 
Verses of the Twenty-fifth Chapter. 

Our blessed Lord manifested infinite wisdom 
and goodness, as well as condescention in all His 
words and actions; He knew how to bring down to 
our feeble understanding the most sublime truths. 
This chapter is a continuation of the discourse con- 
tained in the preceding chapter, in which He pre- 
dicted the terrible judgments awaiting the Jewish 
nation, and He uses the figures contained in the 
text to illustrate His coming to execute these judg- 
ments, and also His coming at the natural death of 
every human being, and His coming at the general 
judgment, after death. This parable, therefore, ad- 
mits of a triple application, but we shall confine our 
remarks principally to that view of the picture in 
which we are most deeply interested. In referring 
to the condition of the Jewish nation, He presents 
this picture to His hearers, in the form of this para- 
ble. This is a very ancient mode of instruction, and 
an admirable way of conveying moral lessons. It 
lays hold of the imagination, and insinuates itself 
into the affections, so that through the intercom- 
munication of the faculties the understanding is 
made to apprehend the sense by the figure proposed 
to the fancy. It is, in fact, a similitude taken from 
things natural, to instruct us in things spiritual. 



The Words of Faith. 195 

Now as the subject our Lord was discussing was 
not a tangible one, He very wisely used this picture 
to represent it, which He begins with the word, 
Then. That is when all these things are past that 
refer to the destruction of Jerusalem, and from that 
time on, at least until death, and the second com- 
ing of Christ at the resurrection of the martyrs, and 
commencement of the Millennium. 

Shall the kingdom of heaven. These words, 
kingdom of heaven, admit of a most extensive appli- 
cation; in a very important sense it is within us, 
and it is always there if Christ sits upon the throne 
of our affections. Notice the kingdom of heaven 
and the kingdom of God are synonymous terms. 
And St. Paul says flesh and blood cannot inherit 
the kingdom of G'od. Now in this place Paul is 
evidently speaking of the church triumphant. Again 
in the 3d verse of the 3d chapter of John, Jesus 
said : Except a man be born again, he cannot see 
the kingdom of God. Now it is evident that (king- 
dom of heaven) in the passage under consideration, 
does not mean either of these three states. But 
that it means the same exactly as it does in the 
parable of the net cast into the sea ; that is, it means 
the visible church on earth ; the state of that church 
as shown by the character, conduct and fate of those 
admitted within its pale by the ordinance of bap- 
tism. Be likened unto ten virgins. In order to have 
a clear idea of the beauty and force of this figure, 
it is necessary that we have some knowledge of the 
circumstances, and scenes, from which the picture 
is drawn, namely, those attending an ordinary wed- 



196 The Words of Faith. 

ding in that country, which were as follows: It 
was common for weddings to take place at night, 
and the bridegroom took home his wife after the 
ceremony had been performed. Previous to this, 
however, the parties interested in the matter had 
made a selection of some of their junior female 
friends, generally ten, which were invited to assem- 
ble at the house of the bride, or her parents or 
friends, as the case might be, where they would be 
presented with lamps for which they had to furnish 
oil. These virgins were expected to have this lamp 
well supplied with oil, and burning, as soon as the 
shades of evening began to draw their curtains 
around them ; and as soon as the young men of the 
bridegroom's party announced the fact of his near 
approach, to go out and meet him with their illum- 
inated lamps in their hands, and welcome him to the 
home of the bride. After the close of the ceremon- 
ies their office was to accompany the bride to her 
new home with the groom, and to receive as a re- 
ward for their services a bountiful feast. How 
beautiful they must have looked, all clad in spotless 
white. To these virgins our Lord likens the pro- 
fessors of Christianity, taken as a body in its en- 
tirety, and not either of the two halves independent 
of the other half that composes that body. It is pret- 
ty certain that our Lord saw no need to make any 
change in the number 10, for it admited of an equal 
division into two halves. But if we weigh this mat- 
ter well, it is indeed a serious and sad thing if one 
half the professing Christians in Christendom are 
in reality hypocrits. No wonder it is still as true as 



The Words of Faith. 197 

ever that the vast majority of the people, even in 
Christian countries, are still in spiritual darkness, 
for if the light in the church be darkness, how great 
is that darkness. God help us to examine ourselves 
and see how matters stand between Thee and our 
souls. I think Christ compares virgins to profes- 
sors, to signify the purity required by God in the 
professors' character. 

Which took their lamps. The lamp is the out- 
ward and visible sign of Christian profession which 
all men can see, and which all take when they enter 
the visible church by baptism. But it is not the di- 
vine light that illuminates the interior of man's spir- 
itual nature, bringing the man into a saving union 
with God, even as the branch is united to the vine, 
and the Christian's spiritual life is hid, with Christ, 
in God. The only source of this light of life is the 
oil of Divine grace, supplied by the Holy Ghost, 
paid for by the blood of Christ, and not by our own 
works. Don't suppose that even the work of bap- 
tism, proper as it is in its place, can ever save a soul 
from death. Only one work is accepted by God as 
a suitable price for man's salvation, and we all ought 
to know that is the work Jesus Christ did for us. 
But these virgins went forth to meet the bride- 
groom. Every person who professes to believe that 
Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and is baptized in 
the name of the Triune Deity, may be said to take 
this step of going forth, by an open or public confes- 
sion of belief in the divinity and death of Christ. 
But let us remember, wicked men take this step fre- 
quently, but what good does it do them. Thousands 



198 The Words of Faith. 

of them have been baptized into every visible church 
on earth, but it only places them in the category of 
hypocrits, with dark lanterns in their hands. This 
going forth is all right as far as it goes, but let us 
ask ourselves what we are gone forth for? Is it to 
have a good time in this world, because the world 
esteems it respectable to belong to the church? 
True, this is very different to the state of things in 
the early ages of Christianity, but it is not so fa- 
vorable to Christian purity. Is it to put on this gar- 
ment of profession, to hide the deformity of our sin- 
ful natures? Is it to assist us in our business pur- 
suits, and enable us to get rich in this world's 
goods in less time? Or can I assign no other rea- 
son than to say, I did it for fun, or I did it because 
Young So-and-So gave me a challenge to do it, and 
I acepted it, and so joined the church ; or are we 
really gone forth to meet the Bridegroom? Here 
let me ask, did we ever consider who this Bride- 
groom is? Brethren, He is no other than the in- 
carnate Son of the Eternal God. It is He who hath 
bought his Bride with his own blood. It is He in 
whose blood those bright robes worn by the Heav- 
enly Queen have all been washed and made so white 
and clean. It is He who hung upon the cross for 
my sin, and for your sin. It is He, the two natures 
of Divinity and Humanity, inseparably blended in 
one person, who by the inherent strength of the 
omnipotent arm of Deity, achieved a complete vic- 
tory over sin, death, hell, the devil and the grave, 
and then ascended into Heaven, the mightiest con- 
queror in the universe, to act as our mediator with 



The Words of Faith. 199 

the Eternal Father. It is He whose omnicient eye 
penetrates the deep secrets of our inmost souls. In 
a word, it is our Judge. He will sit upon His throne 
judging both quick and dead, in righteous justice; 
even He will acquit or condemn me, and you, whose 
voice we shall hear, and it will be either, Come ye 
blessed, or depart ye cursed. 

Let me now ask, What preparation have w r e 
made to meet this august personage, other than 
assumed, the outward garb, of the lamp of profes- 
sion, which is as useless as any other lamp would 
be without a light in it? Now we cannot tell when 
or where, we shall meet Him. Let us not sleep as 
do others. Let us not wander off in the forbidden 
haunts of worldly pleasure and get on the enchanted 
grounds, and thus fall into the hands of the giant, 
Worldly Mind, and be forced by him into the castle 
of Carnal security. But let us see to it that our 
lamps are well supplied with the oil of Divine grace. 
He may be much nearer to us than we imagine, and 
we shall want our lamps burning brightly when he 
does come. In the midst of life we are in death. 
We can always say, with David, There is but a step 
between me and death. Suppose he came tonight? 
Are our lamps trimmed and burning brightly, or is 
the light they once gave gone out for want of oil? 
If so, w T e are in the most imminent danger of losing 
our souls. For, Five of them were wise and five 
were foolish. This certainly is one of the most im- 
portant shades in this picture, and one in which we 
are the most interested, because if we are professing 
Christians we belong to one of these two parties, 



200 The Words of Faith. 

namely, the wise or foolish virgins. Remember, 
there is no middle class. They that are not wise 
are foolish. Jesus said: He that is not with me is 
against me. Now it strikes my mind very forcibly 
that our Lord's design by this equal division of the 
two parties was to teach us that this was then, and 
would continue to.be (at least until the second com- 
ing of Christ, at the raising of the martyrs, which I 
believe will usher in the Millennium), the true 
standard of the visible church. If my view of this 
is correct, this is the true standard of the visible 
church today. Remember, the omniscient eye of 
the Son of God never makes a mistake. He might 
have said seven of them were wise and three were 
foolish, or have divided the number ten in any other 
way, but He did not do this, and I confess I can 
see it in no other light except that in which I have 
explained it. But now, just look at the consequence 
of this interpretation. The whole body of the visi- 
ble church is divided into two equal parts, and one 
of those parts is composed of- hypocrits. At any 
rate, our blessed Saviour teaches us that we are not 
to expect a perfect visible church, and this idea co- 
incides with that conveyed by the net, cast into the 
sea, which gathered of the fishes, both bad and 
good. Now the work assigned by God to the church 
is the same now as that assigned by our Saviour to 
Peter ; that is, to fish for men, by casting the gospel 
net into the sea of the world. This is a noble and 
blessed work. May God grant that the fishermen 
may be well qualified to perform it successfully, that 
vast multitudes may be gathered into the church, 



The Words of Faith. , 201 

that will in the end eat of the fruit of the Tree of 
Life, and drink freely of that wine that flows from 
the fountain of love in Christ, in the paradise of 
God. 

But to return to our subject. Five were wise 
and five were foolish. The wise were careful to 
maintain vital Godliness. They felt it was not suffi- 
cient to know the will of God, and so they did the 
(will of God. (See Mathew, 7th chapter and 21st 
verse.) They not only lived in the spirit, begotten 
in their souls by the Holy Ghost, but their outward 
w r alk and public life declared this fact to the church 
and to the world. Moreover, they supplied their 
lamps with oil at regular intervals. They knew that 
the grace which carried them through yesterday 
would not avail them for today's use, and they had 
an inexhaustible store ever at hand, ever accessible, 
to be had perfectly free for the asking, being paid 
for with the blood of Christ. This is a brief outline 
of the character of the wise virgins. But the fool- 
ish virgins had all the outward signs of Christianity 
or lamps of profession, which the visible church 
could furnish them ; they had joined that church by 
the orthodox mode of baptism, according to the 
peculiar view of that church among whom they had 
cast their lot. They had subjected themselves to 
the ceremonial formalities peculiar to that order of 
Christians. Some of them may have had their 
lamps burning, but they went out for want of atten- 
tion (on their part), for it is evident it was not on 
account of a defective lamp that the light went out. 
They knew it was for the want of oil, which they 



202 The Words of Faith. 

had neglected to supply, because they were too in* 
dolent, or too much taken up with other matters, 
and careless about the main object of their mission, 
which they pretended was their salvation. So they 
justly merited the name of foolish virgins. 

While the Bridegroom tarried, they all slum- 
bered and slept. We understand the tarrying of 
the Bridegroom, in the first place, to mean the in- 
terval between an individual's accountability in the 
sight of God, and his natural death. At least this 
view of the picture is best calculated to awaken our 
interest and induce us to take steps to prepare for 
His coming. Thes., 5th chapter and 6th verse.) In 
this chapter St. Paul refers to the state of the visi- 
ble church, and exhorts to Godliness. In another 
place he says Godliness, with contentment, is great 
gain. Let us, therefore, be content with our lot and 
portion in this world, even if we have to endure 
great trials, for God sees them necessary to promote 
Godliness. But they all slumbered, both the genu- 
ine and spurious virgins. This denotes a state of 
rest from persecution, and a state of worldly pros- 
perity, both of which foster a state of spiritual leth- 
argy, or sleepiness, of which St. Paul warns the 
Thessalonians in the chapter before cited. 

Brethren, sometimes when we reflect upon our 
own state in reference to this matter, we are utterly 
astonished at the kindness and forbearance of our 
Father in heaven. It is indeed a marvel that we 
should continue to be the objects of his love and 
care, and sometimes when we look at the church, 
and the world, and see the terrible things that are 



The Words of Faith. 203 

constantly taking place there, we are almost tempt- 
ed to say: Can there be a God? If there is, why 
does He not interfere to put a stop to all this iniq- 
uity? Why did He not strike down the savage 
Turks, and not suffer the indiscriminate slaughter 
of the Armenian Christians? 

Brethren, we do not inquire wisely concerning 
these matters. God never does anything, or suffers 
it to be done, especially to His children, without a 
just reason. But, you say, Why are all these trou- 
bles in the church? Answer, It may be because they 
all slumbered and slept, and it required a perfect 
tornado of persecution to wake them up. But in 
reality, God's reasons are known only to himself. 
This is, however, treating the subject in a general 
way. Now let every Christian be honest with him- 
self in answering the following questions : 

Does my conscience bear me witness that I am 
living as I know r I ought to live? 

Am I a light to those in darkness, or am I try- 
ing to hide what little light I have? 

Am I ashamed of the Cross of Christ, or do I 
deny myself and take up my own cross wherever I 
find it daily. 

Do I have daily access to the fountain, to keep 
up my supply of grace? 

In fact, do I by the use of the ordained means 
of grace, both private and public, as far as I am 
able, make a steady growth in grace, and by sinking 
deeper into the purple flood, raise higher into the 
life of God? 

Do I place my business matters, by consecrat- 



204 The Words of Faith. 

ing prayer, in God's hands, and at his disposal, con- 
sidering myself as His steward, accountable to Him, 
for the proper management of the same? 

Trusting in God to be my guide, in these mat- 
ters even unto death, do I do all I can for God's 
glory in the church and in the world, by relieving 
those in distress, as far as I am able, and pleading 
for all in distress at the mercy seat of our Lord 
Jesus Christ? 

If these questions can be answered in the af- 
firmative, it is pretty certain the Christian's lamp 
is burning brightly, and he is waiting, in a prepared 
state, to meet the Bridegroom. 

But this figure is so comprehensive that it in- 
cludes two other meanings, which we will notice 
briefly. First, the coming of Christ to judge the 
Jewish nation for the heinous sin they had com- 
mitted in rejecting and crucifying Him. And, sec- 
ond, the coming at the general judgment. In this 
last sense we shall all sleep the sleep of natural 
death, while the Bridegroom tarries, until we hear 
the blast of the Archangel's trumpet summoning 
us to judgment, and if persons died with their souls 
illuminated with Divine light, and life, they are 
united with their new and immortal bodies in the 
same condition they die in, and thereby fitted for a 
glorious futurity. And they will then accompany 
the Bridegroom's party to the feast. But if they 
enter the grave under the dark cloud of God's dis- 
pleasure, they raise from it in the same condition, 
for no fires of purgatory can ever change it. 

And at midnight there was a cry made. This 



The Words of Faith. ' 205 

appears to signify that Christ comes frequently in 
all these ways, when he is least expected. No 
doubt but he came in this way to punish the Jews, 
for there were more people in Jerusalem at that time 
probably, than ever before. And we have every rea- 
son to believe he will come at the general judgment 
with very great suddenness. How dreadfully sud- 
den was his coming to the Egyptians, when the first 
born of every family died in one night. How sud- 
den it must have been to Sennaccrib's army, when 
185,000 died in one night? It is a terrible thing to 
fall into the hands of an agry God. There will be 
an alarm given when He comes at death to every 
one of us. 

Oh, what a change takes place then, especially 
sudden, when He comes at midnight, or at a time 
when least expected, and awful in the extreme to 
those who are unprepared to meet Him. What con- 
sternation, and shrinking from the cold hand of 
death ! The soul (at this time) raves around the 
walls of her clay tenement in a vain search for a 
single ray of hope. It is said that Queen Elizabeth 
of England, when in these circumstances, cried: 
Millions of money for an inch of time! But no; 
time could not be detained. She had come to the 
mouth of the river of time, and the vast ocean of a 
boundless eternity was spread out before her vis- 
ion, and all was dark. Methinks, with what an un- 
speakable thrill of terror the soul unprepared by 
the illuminating grace of God will take its first 
plunge into this abyss of woe. There will indeed 
be a cry made, and it will be, Behold, the Bride- 



206 The Words of Faith. 

groom cometh ! The Judge ! The Judge ! Go ye 
forth to meet him. 

May God enable us to take warning before it 
is too late. Let us see htat we have a good supply 
of oil in our vessels with our lamps. Death is a very 
solemn event, even to those who are well prepared, 
although not to be dreaded, because the monster's 
sting has been extracted, and its poison annihilated 
by the blood of Christ. The change will be very 
great between a place in the church militant and 
the church triumphant. But not so great as be- 
tween a place in the visible church, in the ranks of 
the foolish virgins, and a place in the future state 
with them, with their dark lanterns in their hands, 
vainly knocking for admission into the realms of 
light and felicity. Ah, my friends, these are not 
merely the fanciful flights of imagination ; they are 
real facts experienced by millions of our fellow 
creatures, and we shall experience them in the near 
future; but compared with them how vain, trifling 
and empty are all the most infatuating allurements 
of the world that Satan employs to decoy us from 
our chief good. When the mandate is issued, "Go 
ye forth to meet the bridegroom/' we shall have to 
go, prepared or unprepared. It will be no use to 
say, "Please give me a little time." 

Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their 
lamps. No more sleep then for any of them. The 
scales that conceal these spiritual facts from the 
spiritual vision all fall off in death, and the dread 
reality of a future state is plainly visible, frequently 
before death has set his seal upon the mortal frame. 



The Words of Faith. 207 

Then if an inch of time is awarded us, all arise, both 
good and bad, to investigate all matters relating to 
their own destiny, by examining and trimming their 
lamps. But, oh, how terrible, to find the lamp 
gone out at such a time as this. It is quite evident 
it must have been lighted or it could not have gone 
out. So, then, these foolish virgins were genuine 
backsliders, and their light went out forever. 

Yet I believe there are more persons in the 
church who never had the illuminating influences of 
the Holy Ghost in their souls than there are per- 
sons who have let those influences become extinct 
for lack of oil of divine grace. 

But it is quite evident both parties claim a 
place in the visible church, and these are the par- 
ties most friendly with the world ; in fact, they form 
a sort of connecting link that unites the church to 
the world. Now, the world is the same now as it 
ever has been — an enemy to Godliness — consequent- 
ly if you find a party in the church on the most 
friendly terms with the world, call to remembrance 
what Christ says about these things : "If any man 
love the world, the love of the Father is not in 
him." It is quite natural for the world to love its 
own party best, and that party in the church most 
like itself. But it generally treats the humble child 
of God very coolly, or it may be points at him with 
the finger of scornful contempt. But I hope the 
age of persecution has passed, in this country at 
least. But when these people, either in the church 
or out of it, come to die, and the scales fall from 
their eyes, they see things in a very different light. 



208 The Words of Faith. 

Then the cry is, "Oh, send for some good man or 
woman," or it may be a preacher or priest, the last 
to grant me absolution of my sins, and the first 
named to pray for me. My prospect is dark and 
gloomy in the extreme. I do wish some of these 
parties would come and give me some of their light, 
But not so, for none of them have more than enough 
for themselves. How gladly would the enpty pro- 
fessor exchange places with him whom he once de- 
spised, but he cannot. 

How glad he would be if he could give him some 
of his grace. But, no, there is no such thing as 
works of supererogation. This is only one of the 
wicked deceptions of a corrupt church. 

Verse the 9th : Not so. It is evident to my 
mind that these two words are judiciously supplied 
(by the translation) in our English Bible, for the 
sense is complete without them in our language. I 
just make this statement because they do not occur 
in the Greek, and as we have already made some re- 
marks on the sinner, or hypocrite, seeking help from 
the pious Christian, whom he despised, while in 
health, our observations will be principally con- 
fined to the latter clause of this verse. And we ob- 
serve that, ready as the Christian may be to help 
even his enemies, who have deceived him as well 
as themselves, or may be have treated him with 
contempt and derision, yet he has no oil of grace to 
spare from his own stock. And so he would not, if 
he could for just reasons; and he could not if he 
would, for God will not impute the righteousness of 
any creature to another creature. There is but one 



The Words of Faith. 209 

instance of imputed righeousness being effective to 
salvation, and that is the righteusness of the Son of 
God (the Creator). Therefore, their advice to their 
poor foolish companions is to go and buy for them- 
selves. 

Mark you, this was the very best advice to 
give, but good advice is frequently given when it 
is too late. They had put off the great work of 
seeking this indispensible preparation until it was 
too late. Strange Satanic infatuation, indeed, when 
we think we can serve the world, the flesh, and the 
devil until the very close of our lives, and that God 
will accept us and crown us with eternal life, if we 
can only just get to say, "God be merciful to me, a 
sinner." 

God's love and mercy are indeed infinite, but 
their is a limit to the period allotted man for the re- 
jection of the same, and this limit is known only to 
God, who says, "My spirit shall not always strive 
with man." Jesus says, "No man can come unto 
me, except my Father draw him." God draws by 
his spirit. Let the sinner take timely warning. It 
may be the advice given by the pious Christian to 
his neighbor was in the form of the invitation. Oh, 
every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and 
he that hath no money, come ye, buy, and eat. Yea, 
come, buy wine and milk, without money and with- 
out price. "Wash ye and be ye clean." Not in the 
typical waters of church baptism, for you have al- 
ready done that, but bathe your soul in the ante- 
type of those waters; that is, in the invigorating 
life-giving waters of God's holy spirit, which we 



210 The Words of Faith. 

call Holy Ghost baptism, and take all this as a free 
gift of God. 

It appears this good advice was taken by the 
foolish virgins. But, now, just notice how they 
failed in their efforts to prepare themselves for the 
feast. "While they went to buy the bridegroom 
came." This brings to my mind a circumstantial 
fact, related to me many years ago by my cousin, 
a pious young man and a local preacher in the Ban- 
well circuit, Somerset county, England. A fellow 
preacher, whose name was Bacon, was one day sum- 
moned to the bedside of a dying man who was a 
member of the same church as himself. He was in 
great distress of mind, but he had carried the lamp 
many years, and had just discovered that his light 
was gone out, if indeed he ever had it burning. The 
preacher talked to him and prayed with him as best 
he could for some time, and when he was battling 
with the angel of death, he knelt close to him and 
pleaded with God for his salvation. In the course 
of his pleadings, he said, "The precious blood of 
Christ." When the dying man grasped the preach- 
er's hair with his hand, and in an agony of despair 
said, "The precious blood of Christ is to my soul 
at this moment the hottest part of hell." And he 
retained his hold on the hair of the preacher until 
some person set him at liberty after his death. The 
awful circumstance made such an impression upon 
my mind that I think I have not forgotten any part 
of it, or added anything to it. I believe you have it 
exactly as it occurred. I hope this will be a warn- 



The Words of Faith. 211 

ing to the Christless professor, who may chance to 
read these statements. 

"And they that were ready went in with him 
to the marriage." Thank God, Christ will meet 
His bride Himself; and, oh, what joy will thrill 
through my soul when he pours into it the full ef- 
fulgence of his own life, light and love. The vessel 
will be brimful of ecstatic joy. When Christ says, 
"Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the king- 
dom prepared for you." But after these went in, 
the door was shut. This appears to refer chiefly 
to the coming of Christ at the ressurection at least, 
until the ressurrection of the just is an accom- 
plished fact, for then they all get their reward; and 
the door to eternal life is forever closed against all 
the rest. The bodies of all sleep the sleep of death 
until Christ comes to raise them, and the martyrs 
are to be raised first, as a compensation to them for 
the shortening of their lives in this world. But the 
door will not be shut then for a long period. If nat- 
ural years are to be understood, it will be 1,000 
years, but if prophetical years are meant it will be 
300,000 years, for in prophecy one day is often put 
for a year of 360 days. I am inclined to believe the 
first meaning is the true one in this case. 

Now, after these events have transpired, all the 
dead in Christ (including infants) will be raised a 
vast multitude, countless as the sands of the ocean, 
and from all nations will be admitted to the wed- 
ding feast in glory. Then the door to this feast 
will be closed forever. No more admittance then. 

Next come the empty professors and open ene- 



212 The Words of Faith. 

my of Christ, entirely associated with each other,, 
but not a wise virgin amongst them. They come 
and knock in vain for admittance at the door of the 
heavenly kingdom, crying, "Lord, Lord, open to 
us." But the door of mercy may be said to be 
shut against every sinner at death, and sometimes 
long before that event takes place, for whenever the 
Holy Spirit takes his final departure the sinner's 
doom is sealed. There is no possible chance for his 
salvation then. A person in this awful condition 
will die in the same state without a wedding gar- 
ment. Even if it were possible for him to wedge 
himself in amongst the guests, the omniscient eye 
of the bridegroom would detect him and say, 
"Friend, how comest thou in here without a wed- 
ding garment. Bind him and cast him out." 

But the verb, know, in connection with this sub- 
ject has a double meaning, for it also means I never 
approved of your conduct in life, as well as, I do not 
know you to be my children. 

Watch then for ye know neither the day or the 
hour when the Son of Man cometh. We can think 
of nothing more uncertain than human life. How 
necessary, then, for the Christian to watch. Don't 
let the lamp go out for want of oil. "For if the 
light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that 
darkness." It is he that endureth unto the end 
that shall be saved. In the last thirteen verses of 
the eighteenth chapter of Matthew, Christ, having 
shown that God will deal with us as the king dealt 
with the defaulting debtor, in these words, "So like- 
wise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if 



The Words of Faith. 213 

ye," etc., etc., proves to a demonstration that God 
will charge our sins, which he has forgiven to us 
again under certain circumstances. The same idea 
Is conveyed in our Lord's prayer. In this He says 
lie will not forgive those who do not forgive, but 
the parable is more emphatic, with regard to charg- 
ing again that debt that he has already forgiven. 

Now, all this proves that while His promises 
are Yea and Amen in Christ Jesus, yet while we re- 
main in a probationary state, they are conditional 
and not absolute, for if any man has not the spirit 
of Christ he is none of His, and if any man has not 
a forgiving spirit, he has not the spirit of Christ, 
and he is not in Christ ; they are, therefore, not Yea 
and Amen to him. Hence the need of watchful- 
ness while we are in an enemy's country. So Paul 
gives all Christians excellent advise in the 14th and 
two following verses of the fifth chapter of Ephe- 
sians. We would all do well to take it. 
No room for mirth, or trifling here, 
For worldly hope or worldly fear, 

If life so soon is you. — Wesley. 

If now the judge is at the door, 
And all mankind must stand before 
The inexorable throne. 

I will now venture to offer a few thoughts, sug- 
gested by this subject. 

Who is this that cometh up out of the wilder- 
ness, leaning upon the arm of her beloved? This 
is she that is glorious. The great king's daughter- 
in-law, whom his Son hath prepared for Himself. 
Do you observe the heavenly softness, combined 



214 The Words of Faith. 

with the most dazzling splendor of her light? This 
is because she shines by reflection, with borrowed 
light, which is of the same nature as that emanating 
from the Sun of Righteousness, its source. 

But look at her robes. This is because the 
King's daughter-in-law is all glorious within. No 
spot of sin is there ; and her robes of spotless purity 
and whiteness are the wedding garments furnished 
her by the great King for the wedding of His Son. 

But look at her beautiful crown. Yes, indeed, 
that is beautiful, far exceeding our powers either of 
conception or description. It is so strongly con- 
nected with the crown of the King's Son. In fact, 
it is a diadem in that crown. It is a crown of life 
eternal. 

But where did this beautiful bride come from? 
She came from our world. 

Those bright beings of light 

Which dazzle our sight, 
Sprang up on this earth, 
And had to contend with sin from their birth. 

This earth bore the plant, 

And by a free grant 
Of mercy and grace, 

They prepared here for that heavenly place. 
Transplanted by God's sovereign hand, 
They flourish in that heavenly land, 

The fruit which they bear 

Thrives far better there. 
When in the full blaze 
Of that heavenly Sun's exuberant rays. 

But how will they be employed? Answer. They 



The Words of Faith. 215 

will never be idle. God has no use for idlers, either 
here or hereafter. But their employment will be 
that most congenial to their nature, and they will 
never get weary. For all the former things are 
passed away. 



216 The Words of Faith. 



THE HIDDEN MANNA, THE WHITE STONE 
AND NEW NAME. 



Thoughts on the Battle for Life Eternal, and the 
Only Way to Gain the Victory, Based on the 
Last Part of the 17th Verse of the Second Chap- 
ter of Revelations. 

"To him that overcometh will I give to eat of 
the hidden manna ; and will give him a white stone, 
and in the stone a new name written, which no man 
knoweth, saving he that receiveth it." 

Listen to these words, for they are not the 
words of any created being, but of God Himself, 
even of our glorious Redeemer. Therefore, let 
them sink down into your hearts and drown all 
worldly and sensual thoughts, until by the grace of 
God you are changed into a new creature in Christ 
Jesus. Then, and not till then, will you under- 
stand their true meaning. 

When you have tasted the hidden manna of 
God's love to you, personally, by giving His Son 
to die for you upon the cross, your sentiments, I -am 
persuaded, will agree with those expressed in a few 
lines of poetry that I composed a week or two ago, 
which I include in the shape of prose, because I 
think it fits this place in the manuscript and may 
do good. 

When I behold my dying Lord, stretched on 
a Roman cross for me, the sight doth all my 



The Words of Faith. 217 

thoughts absorb. And drown my spirit, Lord, in 
thee. In thee alone is hid my life, my Lord, my 
Saviour, and my God. 

From the vain scenes of worldly strife, for 
wealth, for honor, or for blood; these things for 
me no charms possess. I love my dearest Saviour 
best; and by His help I will abide, safe shelter in 
His bleeding side; till angels beckon me away, to 
see his face in endless day. 

Remember, my friends, this great blessing 
spoken of under the figures of the hidden manna, 
and the white stone, is promised by our Lord only 
to those who overcome the evil one that assails 
every one, as soon as he or she becomes accounta- 
ble to God, and when we consider the nature of this 
invisible spiritual foe, to-wit, his great power, skill, 
cunning and indefatigability, w T e shall see the van- 
ity and hopelessness of encountering him, supported 
only by our own courage, skill and strength. His 
means of access and methods of approaching us to 
make his insidious- attacks are almost unlimited. 
Sometimes he injects his poison of unbelief in re- 
vealed religion and the existence of God, and 
makes infidels of men. He then presents himself in 
the assumed but false garb of a philosophical rea- 
soner; at other times he approaches mankind 
through the thousands of avenues furnished by the 
world and the flesh for his use. 

Now, what are we to do in a case of this kind? 
Answer. Do just what Jacob did when he was on 
the point of meeting his angry brother Esau (see 
the 24th to the 28th verses inclusive of the 32d chap- 



218 The Words of Faith. 

ter of Genesis). He got by himself, sent even -his 
family away from him, in order to spend the night 
in uninterrupted communion with God, pleading 
with Him for protection from the wrath of his 
angry brother. It was some time in the darkness 
before morning the Angel of the Covenant or the 
Messiah presented himself to Jacob in the form of 
man and engaged Jacob in a wrestle till almost 
daybreak. 

Jacob saw that his case was hopeless, and gave 
up wrestling with the angel, but clung to -him with 
the utmost tenacity, and when the angel said, "Let 
me go for the day breaketh," Jacob replied, "I will 
not let thee go except thou bless me," and the angel 
gave him a new name, and in it the new and inesti- 
mable blessing of a new creature, for Jacob died, 
and Israel was born in the same physical body; and 
I presume Jacob shouted glory. 

This is just what we must all do — give up 
every other hope of securing the forgiveness of our 
sins and eternal life; and lay hold on God by an 
humble trust in His promises to sin-sick sinners, 
which promises all center in and are founded upon 
Christ's vicarious death and resurrection.. Nothing 
short of a vital union with Christ, even such a union 
as is prefigured by the hidden manna, the white 
stone and new name, can secure us from the jus- 
tice of God and its necessary consequence, eternal 
perdition. Therefore, if you are really anxious to 
obtain this blessing, plead with God, tell him you 
will not let him go except he bless you, and stick 
to it. 



The Words of Faith. 219 

Remember our Lord's parable of the unjust 
judge and importunate widow; but in all your 
pleadings with God do not forget that all God's 
promised blessings of grace and pardon, come to 
you through the channel of good faith in the prec- 
ious blood of Christ to cleanse your soul then and 
there, from all the pollution and guilt of past sin. 
For "By grace are ye saved through faith," and not 
through any ordinance of the visible church of God ; 
see Collosians, 2nd chapter and 12th verse. Cer- 
tainly if you honor God by taking him at his word, 
God will honor you by verifying His word in your 
experience, and" this is what is meant by the hid- 
den manna. The manna the Israelites ate in the 
wilderness was a type of Christ Himself formed in 
the heart, the hope of glory, the hidden manna that 
God proffers to give ; it is the secret of the Lord, 
enjoyed only by them that fear and trust Him. 
"Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, but trust Him 
for His grace" (Cooper's poems). But Jesus said 
when ye pray for a blessing, believe that ye receive 
it and ye shall have it." No man can desire plainer 
language than this is. Paul said, "What sower is 
not of faith is sin." 

And if this applies to meats and drinks, it ap- 
plies with much greater force to God's promises in 
Christ, for if God so loved the world of fallen hu- 
manity as to give His Son to die for it, how shall 
he not also give us all things that he has promised 
us in Christ, to-wit, pardon and justification and 
purification or sanctification in the life to come. 
And the white stone means the inward or spiritual 



220 The Words of Faith. 

evidence of the partial and preparatory execution 
of God's promise to His children, so far as it per- 
tains to the kingdom of grace. 

It was the custom in that country and age, 
when persons formed an important contract to be 
fully consummated at some future period, for the 
contracting parties to secure a white stone, break 
it in two pieces, that would fit each other exactly, 
and each person held in his possession his part of 
the stone until the bargain was fully consummated. 
This is a most beautiful figure of the bargain be- 
tween God and the regenerated child of God at the 
time of his new birth into Christ. Therefore, the 
Holy Ghost uses it to illustrate that work of grace. 
But in this stone was a new name which was a sec- 
ret between the giver and the receiver. 

This new name cannot be the name given at 
the ordinance of baptism, either by sponsors or the 
officiating minister of the visible church, because it 
is far beyond the power of any mortal to give a 
name that contains a secret blessing known only to 
himself and the receiver. I confess that the given 
name, not the family name, has been called the 
Christian name by all denominations, except those 
who deny a place within the pale of the visible 
church to infants. But this new name is the secret 
antitype of the typical name Israel, which signifies 
one who prevails with God and obtains his bless- 
ing. But the secret part of this name is the direct 
witness of God's spirit, or the Holy Ghost, with our 
spirit that we are born into Christ's spiritual 
church or kingdom, what an inestimable blessing 



The Words of Faith. 221 

this new name is. But how many are called by the 
visible church that enter it, and yet are not chosen 
by Christ because they are not born into His spirit- 
ual kingdom. Christ said that out of ten that had 
the lamp of profession only five were permitted to 
partake of the marriage feast in the kingdom of 
glory, because their lights were gone out. The light, 
not the lamp, saves the soul. Think of this, ye care- 
less professors, what w T ill you do when the bride- 
groom comes. It will be no use to knock then. 
But one rason why this new name is secret is be- 
cause the blessing is foolishness to all who do not 
either enjoy it, or believe it is obtainable, but it does 
not appear foolishness to those who believe in God's 
promise to give it, and seek it, as they would a hid- 
den pearl of great price. But whatever each per- 
son's secret name may be, we are certain it will be 
an accurate delineation of his exact standing in the 
estimation of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 
And it will be the name inscribed by the Holy 
Spirit in the Lamb's book of life. But remember as 
the stars of the firmament differ in glory, so will 
the redeemed differ at the resurrection of the just. 
I think it is Pope who says, "Order is Heaven's 
first law. And this confessed, some are and must 
be greater than the rest, but who infers from hence 
that such are happier shocks all common sense." 
Indeed, all will be perfectly happy, but in propor- 
tion to their capacity for receiving it; for as the 
vessel of the soul's capacity is prepared on earth 
by grace to receive large or small supplies of hap- 
piness, so will . it be filled with happiness in the 



222 The Words of Faith. 

kingdom of glory. And the nearer we live to Christ 
here, the closer will he place our seat to himself 
hereafter. The more our life resembles his life, the 
more we shall enjoy him in glory. 

The true disciple of Jesus Christ watches over 
his part of the white stone incessantly, lest Satan 
should succeed in robbing him of his priceless treas- 
ure in some of his insidious attacks through the 
world or the flesh. He is found daily embracing 
every opportunity for secret communication with 
his Divine Master, and at this throne of grace he 
is constantly adding to his stock of this indispensa- 
ble heavenly manna, upon which his soul thrives 
and grows luxuriously until it bursts the walls of 
its clay tabernacle, and finds a place of sweet rest in 
the regions of glory. 

For right well he knows his Divine Master 
holds the part of his white stone which will fit ex- 
actly into his part of the very same stone, and that 
the contract will be consummated in glory. 

Dear reader, whoever you may be, it is the sin- 
cere prayer of the writer of these lines that you may 
meet him there, and that we may congratulate each 
other on the auspicious event of our spiritual union 
with Christ on earth. May God bless these few 
remarks to your soul. 
Pure saving faith has one sure mark ; 
It saves the soul from sin. And then the mind 
That was so dark, gets heavenly light within. 
Pure Godly faith in Christ, our Lord, and holy 
works agree; 



The Words of Faith. 223 

A life conforming to His word, proves 

Christ is formed in me. 

Without good works, all faith is dead, 

And will not lead to heaven ; 

A body severed from its head, 

A loaf without the leaven. 

Please excuse these lines from the unworthy 
author. 



JUST A STRAY SHEET OF MANUSCRIPT. ' 

The all important thought suggested by the 
word "born" in the dialogue between our Lord and 
Nicodemus is that of a complete transition into a 
new creation or a new creature ; but the entire dis- 
course comprehends two distinct transitions, the 
first pertaining to the soul and the second to the 
body of man. The first transition restores to man's 
soul the image of his maker. The second places 
man's entire person under the fostering care of the 
church, when he enters it by the ordinance of bap- 
tism. It was this first transition that our Lord so 
much wished to impress on the mind of Nicodemus. 
All who experience both changes enter into the 
kingdom of God and into the Christian church, iiq 
matter what may be the name of that branch of 
the church which he enters. 



224 The Words of Faith. 



A FEW THOUGHTS ON THE ORIGIN OF 

MAN. 



A few thoughts on the origin of man. Question : 
Was he endowed with animal life before God breathed 
into his nostrils his own divine life which constituted 
him a living soul? Or were animal life and divine 
life imparted simultaneously? Perhaps someone more 
capable than the writer can furnish a definite answer 
to this question. 

Also a few thoughts on (theoretical) Evolution 
as applied and carried out in reference to the origin 
of the human family. By W. H. Collins, March 15, 
1900. 

Whether there is a speck of. truth or not in the 
theoretical assumptions of modern evolutionists is 
doubtful in the extreme, because many of 
the speculative notions (of these disciples of 
Herbert Spencer and Darwin, the English 
evolutionist,) cannot be sustained either by 
the laws of nature or grace. To speak plainly, 
the theory that the great original ancestor of the hu- 
man family was a tailless monkey cannot be sustain- 
ed by science or revelation. True, indeed, God made 
monkeys, for He made all things or creatures that 
were created, and He made them all very good; but 
He did not make the monkey or any creature, save 
man, in His own image and likeness. The very idea 
of such a thing is not only derogatory to the revealed 



The Words of Faith. 225 

nature of God, but it assumes the character of blas- 
phemy. Of course, I base my arguments on Revela- 
tion, because science never did and never can shed any 
light on the subject. But independent of the fore- 
going crushing argument (against their theory), viz., 
God did not make the monkey in His own likeness 
and image. The whole question hinges on this inex- 
plicable contingency: Did God infuse animal life into 
man's body previous to Breathing into his nostrils 
the breath of His own divine life, or did He not? 
As this question cannot be answered in the affirmative, 
neither can it be proved that man sprang from a 
monkey. 

But one thing is certainly established by Reve- 
lation, and this is, that the proposition made by one 
of the persons of the triune Godhead to the other per- 
son or persons of the Divine Trinity, to make man in 
thei rown image and likeness was antecedent to the 
creation of man. "Let us make man in our own im- 
age, after our own likeness/' Part of the 26th verse 
of the 1st chapter of Genesis. Again in the 7th verse 
of the 2d chapter : 

"And the Lord God made man of the dust of the 
ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of 
life, and man became a living soul." 

This is all the information we have of the origin 
of man. It is exceedingly short, but it embraces the 
origin of man's material and divine natures, and is 
beyond the power of science to change it. The most 
rational conclusion is that God did not imbue man 
with animal life before He breathed into his nostrils 
the breath of His own divine life, which constituted 



226 The Words of Faith. 

man a living soul. Consequently the impartation of 
animal life to man's innate body and the breathing of 
His own divine life into that body were both per- 
formed at the same time. Therefore there was no 
time for man to exist as a monkey, even if it was 
possible for that monkey to bear the image of God. 



ON THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 

In Connection With the Incarnation of Deity and 

the Regeneration of Man. 



A few thoughts on the incarnation of the Son 
of God and the regeneration of man, in connection 
with the operating agency of the third person in the 
Holy Trinity of the Godhead. Also the effect these 
work of the Holy Ghost have on that part of the hu- 
man family which form a party to thi scovenant of 
grace, not by beirig predestinated or elected to it from 
eternity, but by a voluntary acceptation o # f this free 
gift of God upon the conditions on which He gra- 
ciously bestows it. 

In doing this I will base my remarks on the 
14th verse of the 2d chapter of St. Paul's epistle to 
Titus: "Who gave Himself for us that He might re- 
deem us from all iniquity and purify unto Himself a 
peculiar people, zealous of good works." The rela- 
tive pronoun who relates to the latter clause of the 



The Words of Faith. 227 

preceding verse, which is: "The great God and our 
Saviour, Jesus Christ." The apostle teaches that this 
grace or gift of God hath appeared to all men, that 
they may conform to it, believe in it, and be saved 
by it, and that because of this fact it becomes pecu- 
liarly our duty to live Godly lives, encouraging the 
hope of the second appearing of the great God and 
our Saviour Jesus Christ. God and (or in) our Sa- 
viour Jesus Christ at the time of His incarnation be- 
came Immanuel, or God manifested in the flesh, in- 
separably united with man and the ternal Father, or 
first person in the Godhead, without interfering with 
the distinct personality of either Father or Son in 
the incarnate Deity. Thus God gave Himself for us. 
Certainly the Eternal God had the power to give Him- 
self for us, but the most stupendous miracle of grace 
is He did not lack the will, for "He so loved the 
world as to give His only begotten Son.'' John 3d 
and 16th. Begotten by the Holy Ghost, and in His 
Son He gave Himself, for these are the words of 
Jesus Christ. "He that has seen Me, hath seen the 
Father," not forgetting that God is a spirit, and it is 
in this sense that the people of God enjoy the pres- 
ence of Jesus Christ in this life according to His prom- 
ise, the absence of His bodily presence being supplied 
by the presence of the Holy Ghost also according to 
His promise. But how was this accomplished? Let 
us examine by the light of revelation, and as far as 
we can secure it the promised aid or guidance of the 
Holy Ghost to lead us into all saving truth, in order 
to get as correct an idea as possible (with our limited 
faculties) of this sublime and saving truth. First, 



228 The Words of Faith. 

we will endeavor to investigate the means employed 
by God by which the first step in the actual accom- 
plishment of God's promise to the world was taken 
by the Holy Ghost in the work of incarnating the 
Son of God. All the knowledge of this matter of 
fact that we possess has been derived from angelic 
communication, in these words: "And the Angel an- 
swered and said unto her, the Holy Ghost shall come 
upon thee and the power of the Highest shall over- 
shadow thee. Therefore also that holy thing which 
shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." 
This is incontestible evidence that Jesus Christ is 
the Son of the Living God, as Peter said he was, and 
that all the three persons of the Godhead entered 
conspicuously into the incarnation of the Son or sec- 
ond person in the Trinity. The operation of God, 
the Holy Ghost, is as indispensably necessary to be- 
get again a dead soul into Christ to effect its salva- 
tion as it was to beget the Son or Word of God into 
our flesh to effect man's redemption, but this secret 
of the Lord is to be found only with those who love 
Him and hope in His mercy. The work of the Holy 
Ghost in the incarnation of the second person in the 
Godhead was necessary to enable Deity to unite with 
humanity in the womb of the virgin Mary, to bring 
down God to meet man in man's redemption. In like 
manner the co-operation of the same spirit is neces- 
sary to raise fallen man up in order to meet and unite 
with God in the regeneration by the washing and 
renewing of the Holy Ghost. 

"Many are called, but few are chosen." There 
are millions redeemed that will not be saved. The 



The Words of Faith. 229 

Holy Ghost brings down Deity to meet humanity and 
brings up humanity to unite with Deity, thus effect- 
ing a reunion between God and His peculiar people. 
Therefore the Holy Ghost was an active agent in the 
work of the incarnation of Deity, and there is every 
reason to believe that the conception took place in 
the womb of the virgin the moment she heard and be- 
lieved the angelic proclamation. Therefore the Son of 
God was begotten by the Holy Ghost while Mary was 
under the overshadowing influences of the living God, 
or God the Father, the first person in the Holy Trin- 
ity. And her part in the great transaction was solely 
one of faith and resignation as a passive agent. These 
qualifications evinced in the Virgin Mary were un- 
doubtedly necessary on the part of humanity. The 
moment Mary believed the angel the great work of 
redemption was begun, and that work was completed 
when the Redeemer vanquished death and rose from 
the grave. Thus we see the gift proffered by God 
to man was accepted by man through the person of 
the Virgin Mary, and all previous work relating here- 
unto throughout the prophetic and Mosaic dispensa- 
tions constituted the preparation for the grand climax 
of this event. 

The foregoing fact proves that God is love, as 
the evangelist John declares He is. What an over- 
whelming display of divine love shines out in the 
Son, who was and still is the eternal outflowing of 
Deity into a visible manifestation of glory and power, 
t>y His submitting to blend His nature with humanity 
in the womb of the blessed Virgin when He knew 
the pain and ignominy to which He would be exposed 



230 The Words of Faith. 

and which He must endure before the great work 
which He came to do would be accomplished. I have 
not time or space here to enter into a detailed state- 
ment of facts relating to his sufferings and trials, nor 
is it necessary. But this miracle of grace is designed 
by God for us. Ought not the thought of this to 
exert a blessed influence on the sinner's mind and 
cause him to lay down his weapons of rebellion against 
God and to trust in Jesus Christ for the pardon of 
past sin. And having been led to take these steps 
by the spirit of God, whose peculiar office it is to 
convince the world of sin He is also led by the same 
spirit, to seek to conform to the gospel law — that is, 
to live a life of faith in the Son of God; a faith pro- 
ductive of uniform conformity to that law as far as 
he understands it. And his language is : "Lord, what 
wilt thou have me to do?" In this condition he is 
not far from the kingdom of grace. The kingdom pe- 
culiar to God's people inasmuch as it is prepared for 
them only. And all within its pales are a peculiar 
people in many respects, but God's love to fallen man 
was peculiar inasmuch as it was not a love of com- 
placency — that is, the creature which He loved was 
not an attractive object, but quite the reverse, a rebel 
against his government, wallowing in the filth and 
pollution of his sin. It was a love of pity that induced 
God to redeem man. In order to assist us to form a 
just estimate of this love, and in a measure to pene- 
trate into its fathomless depths, we will suppose a 
case which, however, is far from being a parallel 
to the love of God, but may furnish us with an ap- 
proximate illustration of it: Suppose the Czar of 



The Words of Faith. 231 

all the Russians (for this is his true title, who is in 
himself the fountain of those laws by which he gov- 
erns his subjects throughout his vast empire) had en- 
acted a law prohibiting a certain specified act and at- 
taching the death penalty to all who disobeyed his 
commands in this respect. Now suppose some of his 
subjects who were living in or near the border of his 
empire and in the immediate vicinity of the territory 
claimed by his most deadly enemy had been per- 
suaded by this enemy to disobey the Czar and break 
this law, and they had broken the law, exposed them- 
selves to the penalty, which was the inevitable conse- 
quence of their conduct, thus producing consterna- 
tion in the court of St. Petersburgh, what could be 
done? The law must be vindicated and made hon- 
orable, for the Czar's laws are like the laws of the 
Medes and Persians — they do not change. Now, the 
Czar had an only son, the Czarovitch, and he was of 
a most benevolent disposition, for in this extreme 
emergency he came forward and voluntarily offered 
himself to suffer death as a substitute for his rebellious 
subjects, and was accepted by the Czar, his father, 
who also was of a most loving disposition. And he 
suffered the death penalty and thus became a vicarious 
sacrifice for the disobedience of his father's subjects. 
I ask is it possible for the Russians not to love, 
but to hate the Czarovitch? Oh, the base ingratitude 
of such conduct, and yet this love is a very faint illus- 
tration of the love of God to sinners. Moreover, this 
love was peculiarly grand in its modus operandi, or 
means employed to convey this gift to man, "who gave 
Himself for us." But how did he convev the gift 



232 The Words of Faith. 

of Himself to us? I answer by being begotten by 
the Holy Ghost in the womb of the Virgin Mary, 
"Now, if any man hath not the spirit of Christ, he is 
none of His." But how can he obtain the spirit of 
Christ? I answer, only by becoming a new creature, 
or new creation, in Christ Jesus — being begotten again 
by the Holy Ghost and thus born into Christ's spiritual 
kingdom. "Ye must be born again," that is, born of 
the spirit. This undoubtedly is the most essential and 
indispensable peculiarity of God's people. It is pe- 
culiar inasmuch as it can only be effected by the spe- 
cial agency of the Holy Ghost, whose services were 
so essential in effecting the incarnation of the Son 
of God, not only to redeem us from all iniquity, but, 
secondly, "to purify unto Himself a peculiar people." 
To purify means to cleanse from all pollution, and 
make perfect in christian holiness. 'Perfecting holi- 
ness in the fear of the Lord" is a duty enjoined upon 
all christians by the language of the inspired writer. 
But when is this work to be done? Is it at the ter- 
mination of our earthly pilgrimage, as the larger part 
of christians in the Visible Church contend? Our 
text reads: "Zealous of good works." And we all 
know that when death has set his mark upon us, we 
cease at once to be active agents in working either 
good or evil in this world. Nor can we hope to do 
much good in the world during our last sickness. 
True, our works may do good or evil in this world 
long after we have left it, but these works were 
wrought by us before death set his seal upon us. It 
is undoubtedly the intention of our Redeemer to puri- 
fy His people, to quality them to perform these good 



The Words of Faith. 233 

works ; but they must submit to become passive agents 
in this work of purification, for it is the work of the 
same spirit, and it is communicated to the believer 
through the channel of his faith, precisely the same 
as is justification if we honor God by our faith. He is 
faithful to apply the seal in both cases, but those who 
do not believe in the doctrine of Christian perfection 
cannot have it, much as we all need it in our earthly 
pilgrimage. "For without faith it is impossible to 
please God." We know it is God's will, for Christ de- 
clares it is in these words : "Be ye therefore perfect, 
even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect/' 
But thanks be unto God, millions are undoubtedly in 
heaven who did not experience this cleansing from 
all sin through the application of the blood of Jesus 
Christ by the Holy Ghost until death, or rather very 
near death, where they desired and expected to get 
it, God in mercy fulfilling their hope in this respect. 
But it is wise in all Christians to set their standard 
in Christianity as high as possible. If we do this we 
may at least hope to attain unto mediocrity. But if 
we set our standard low, we shall never rise above it 
for lack of faith. It is because professing Christians 
in the different branches of the Visible Church place 
their standard so low down in the scale of Christianity 
that this church is not a more vigorous and effective 
agent in leading men up into a higher, a purer, 
and a more Christlike life, away above the sectarian 
formalities of any branch of that church. It is our 
own fault, not God's, if we are not filled with all His 
communicable fullness (Ephs. 3d and 19th), and thus 



234 The Words or Faith. 

enabled to live on earth in heavenly places with Christ. 
Ephs. ist and 3d and 2d and 16th. 

Of course, past sin is pardoned by grace, through 
the act of justifying faith. The tree is cut down, but 
it will keep sprouting until the roots are dead. 
"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." 
May this blessing be mine. It is an impossibility for 
Jesus Christ to save persons who persist in living in 
known sin, for He "redeemed us from all iniquity," 
and thus makes us his peculiar people, differing in this 
respect from those who live in sin. The foregoing 
facts relating to Christianity cannot be received by 
the natural man, for he receiveth not the things of 
the spirit of God (ist of Corinthians, 2d and 14th 
verse), because they are foolishness unto him. But 
they are the food upon which the Christian thrives 
and grows in grace. 

While writing on this subject my mind has re- 
verted back to a fact which came under my own 
personal observation. When we came to this Jack- 
son county, Missouri, at the close of our late Civil 
War, I found the stumps of several large black locust 
trees in our yard. They were alive and sending up 
an immense quantity of sprouts, which disfigured and 
ruined our lawn. I took an auger, made holes in 
them and charged them with salt, which melted and 
mixed with the sap and killed every sprout. It was a 
perfect success. Perhaps this circumstance may 
serve to illustrate our subject. The tree of sin is cut 
down and removed when we obtain pardon for our 
past sins, but the roots of inbred sin still remain, as 
our experience proves, to our sorrow, for if we do 



The Words of Faith. 235 

not maintain a relentless warfare with them, they will 
soon bring us under the galling yoke of bondage again. 
Now, God is always consistent with Himself in all 
His laws, both of nature and grace. 

First, we remark, salt is purifying in its nature, 
and the effect of salt applied to the sap of obnoxious 
sprouts may serve to illustrate the purifying of the 
Holy Ghost from the lingering remains of the carnal 
mind, or the latent roots of inbred sin, after the tree 
of past sin has been cut down in the heart of the par- 
doned sinner. Salt prevents or greatly retards putre- 
faction. Jesus says to His disciples : "Ye are the salt 
of the earth." Mathew, 5th and 13th. Implying 
that their peculiar mission (for which He first quali- 
fied theim, and, second, to which He called them, 
was by their example and precept in unison with the 
fied them, and, second, to which He called them, 
Holy Ghost, herein expressed by the figure of salt) to 
purify the world of mankind and thus save the nations 
of the earth from destruction. "Have salt in your- 
selves, and have peace one with another." Gospel by 
Mark, 9th and 50th verses. "Let your speech be al- 
ways with grace, seasoned with salt." Cols. 3d and 
6th verse. Again, "If the salt hath lost its savor, 
etc., etc." The plain meaning of our Saviour in this 
figurative language obviously is : You, my disciples, 
are commissioned by me to assist me in the great work 
of evangelizing the world. But how can you do 
this if you have lost my religion yourselves, or do not 
retain the purifying influence of the Holy Ghost? 
You cannot communicate unto others that which you 
do not possess and enjoy yourselves. I believe this to 



236 The Words of Faith. 

be one of the prime factors in the cause why no more 
good is done in the world by the church, for the fault 
evidently is in the agency of the church, and not in 
the will or power of the Holy Ghost. The peculiari- 
ties of the people of God furnish the internal marks 
by which He recognizes them as His people, and 
the effect of these peculiarities furnish the evidence 
by which they are known and read of all men. Neither 
of these marks can be counterfeited successfully, for 
vain are the pretentions of hypocrits. These we be- 
lieve to be some of the leading peculiarities of the 
people of God, inasmuch as they constitute them new 
creatures — that is, pure creatures, perfectly cleansed 
from all sin, both the tree and its roots. The carnal 
mind dead, being slain by the application of the blood 
of Christ through the Eternal Spirit and thus buried 
with Christ by baptism into death. 

Let us now proceed to notice some traits of char- 
acter manifest in the lives of such a people as this. 

First, we observe this people, having washed 
their robes in the blood of the Lamb of God, have 
discarded the livery of Satan and they come boldly 
out, without shame, clad in the livery of their de- 
liverer and general, Jesus Christ, which consists of a 
meek and quiet spirit that will not resent an injury, 
but forgive it, a spirit that loves mankind and prompts 
its owner to embrace every opportunity to do them 
good, even those who may be his enemies without a 
cause. For this is the spirit of Christ, and Christ's 
spirit was also a spirit of resignation to the will of 
His Father. "Oh, my Father, if it be possible, let 
this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, 



The Wokds of Faith. 237 

but as Thou wilt." May God help us to be resigned 
to his will, as our Redeemer was. And to be like Him 
in the spirit of loving patience when insulted and 
ill treated. Also to imitate our Divine Lord and Mas- 
ter in His inflexible resistance of Satan's temptations. 
Another peculiarity of the people of God is they be- 
lieve all the doctrines peculiar to genuine Christianity, 
and endeavor to live a life of uniform conformity to 
gospel law. While many who are not in this kingdom 
of grace believe in the existence of a God, Christians 
believe that He is a being of infinite goodness ; that 
God is the infinite and eternal fountain of the very 
essence of love. There was not the slightest taint of 
cruelty in God's dealings with his Son in the work 
of Redemption. "For He, the Son, shall see of the 
travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied/' Read He- 
brews, 2d and ioth. God never did, and never will, 
do a cruel act, not even in consigning those who re- 
fuse mercy on gospel terms to eternal perdition, for 
He gives these people their own choice. Hell was not 
intended for man. Sin persisted in, in spite of warn- 
ing and entreaties to accept pardon, is the sole cause 
of sorrow and suffering, both in time and eternity, 
for "God willeth not the death of a sinner." Again 
the people of God are peculiar in their faith, for they 
do not believe that crime and error are invariably the 
effect of bad example or defective education, nil 
while they admit this may be the case sometimes, they 
contend that the human heart in its unregene rated 
condition is deceitful above all things and desperately 
wicked, and that this wicked heart or affections in 
man's spiritual nature control all the motions of his 



238 The Words of Faith. 

physical body and lead to a life of sin and crime, and 
Christians believe there is no radical cure for this 
terrible disease but in the Regeneration. While many 
others believe by the prompt administration of legal 
punishment for crimes committed and by education 
it may be cured. Moreover, the people of God are 
peculiar for their benevolence in proportion to the 
measure of the spirit of Christ in their hearts, and 
recognize the Gospel precept as binding upon them, 
recorded in the 27th and twelve following verses of 
the 6th chapter of St.Luke. Bunyan furnishes us with 
a quaint but striking illustration of the truth of the 
closing words of this precept: 
"There was a man, and some did count him mad; 
The more he gave away the more he had." 

Now, if any man hath no measure of this Spirit 
of Christ he is none of His, and this spirit is one of 
generous benevolence. It banishes selfishness from 
the heart of its possessor and makes him zealous of 
good works wherever and whenever he finds an op- 
portunity to perform them. Especially works of be- 
nevolence, so that he is frequently found tracing the 
footsteps of his beloved Lord and Master by going 
about and doing good. Or if Providence prohibits 
his going about, he does all the good he can at home 
(if he has a home), and this is just what I am trying 
to do by writing this. 

I remember reading about a very poor, lame, or- 
phan boy in the great city of London, who was liv- 
ing entirely on charity in a very small upper room 
that fronted on one of the streets of that city. This 
home had been furnished him by a benevolent lady. 



The Words of Faith, 239 

By the kind providence of God he succeeded in learn- 
ing to read and write a little. And another little boy 
who made his living by sweeping a pathway across 
the street saved pennies enough to exchange for a 
shilling, which out of love to his friend, the cripple, 
he gave to him, and with it he bought a Bible, which 
he studied, was converted and made very happy with- 
out the aid or instruction of any person. He was so 
happy that he longed to make others happy, and he 
selected passages from the New Testament, wrote 
them on slips of paper, and, sitting at his window, 
when he saw a person coming toward him he would 
drop the paper so that the person could see it. One 
day he saw a gentleman coming toward him and he 
dropped a slip of paper in front of him, which out 
of curiosity the man picked up and read. It made 
such an impression on his mind that he could not 
forget. He returned to London after a short absence, 
sought and found the lame orphan boy. He and his 
son were subsequently converted, and the latter be- 
came one *of our most successful missionaries to the 
East — either Africa or India. 

This proves that God can make a most efficient 
agent for good out of a very weak instrument. St. 
James in the 27th verse of the first chapter of his 
epistle says: "Pure religion and undefiled before God, 
and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and the 
widows in their affliction, and to keep himself un- 
spotted from the world." From all these gospel pre- 
cepts it is quite clear that the purified people of God 
are and must be zealous of good works if they retain 
their purity, especially works of charity, philanthropy 



240 The Words of Faith. 

and benevolence. And this is unmistakable evidence 
that but few among us professing Christians have 
set our standard of evangelical purity high enough, 
for if we had our zeal would certainly have prompted 
us to use a larger percentage of our wealth in the 
great work of the world' evangelization and the amel- 
ioration of the miseries of the afflicted. 

But the people of God are peculiar because their 
chief pleasure is in the use of the means of grace, ap- 
pointed by God, in the Church Militant, for the edica- 
tion and consolation of His people. These means of 
grace are the places where God meets His people to 
bless them, and feed them with that heavenly manna 
upon which they will thrive and grow until "they all 
come unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the 
stature of the fullness of Christ." Ephesians, 4th and 
13th. 

These people place no dependence on forms and 
ceremonies which are merely sectarian in their origin 
and tendency. But they delight in the study of the 
Holy Scripture, because they believe in them they 
have eternal life, for they are they which testify of 
Christ, the sure word of prophecy of the Old Testa- 
ment. (2d of Peter, 1st and 19th.) And while they 
realize the blessed fact that the New Testament con- 
tains the glad tidings of the Gospel, they are far from 
underestimating the Old Testament, which not only 
contains the Law to bring us to Christ, but furnishes 
us with the evidence that Christ Jesus is the promised 
Messiah, that our faith in Him may be firmly estab- 
lished. Their daily practice and delight is to read a 
portion of the New or Old Testament prayerfully in 



The Words of Faith. 241 

private for their own edification. If they are so situat- 
ed as to render it possible, they establish divine wor- 
ship in private homes where they live, if it is not al- 
ready established there; but particularly in their own 
home. My brethren, these duties and privileges, I am 
persuaded, are sadly neglected by many professing 
Christians. David says in the ist Psalm that the man 
who delights in the Law of the Lord shall be like a 
tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth 
its fruit in its season, etc., etc. Is it because we do 
not believe the testimony of inspiration in regard to 
this matter, or because we underestimate the rich 
blessings promised to those who avail themselves of 
these privileges by performing these duties? Let 
those whose conscience condemns them for the neg- 
lect of this duty % answer these questions for them- 
selves. 

Again God's people are peculiar for having stated 
times for private prayer and meditation. Oh, what 
a blessed privilege to be able to retire to the closet, 
or some other private place, where we can talk with 
God as a man does with his friend. And none but 
God can hear us. Here, Hezekiah like, we can open 
our hearts freely and spread all our troubles and wants 
before Him, and He will enable us to cast our burden 
(which is too heavy for us) upon Him, and give us 
in exchange of His holy peace and heavenly joy. Here 
we can thank Him for His mercies and plead His 
promises for a present and future supply of all things 
necessary to enable us to prove the genuineness of 
our faith by our lives, and to say with Paul, "For 
me to live is Christ, but to die is gain." Oh, what a 



242 The Words of Faith. 

blessed privilege is this. It transcends in value all 
the wealth of the world. Yet it is our privilege, for 
God is no respecter of persons. Christ said to His 
disciples, "Whatsoever ye ask the Father in my name 
pertaining to my kingdom, He will give it unto you." 
But in proportion to their faith : "Believe that ye re- 
ceive it, and ye shall have it," are the words of our 
Lord and Master. If we could only place a just esti- 
mate on the value of the good things laid up in the 
storehouse of God's grace, awaiting the presentation 
of our claims to the same in the name of our Lord 
Jesus Christ, I do think we should be found more 
frequently presenting our earnest petitions for the 
same at a throne of grace. But the people of God 
are not only peculiar for their attention to these per- 
sonal and family duties, but also for their strict at- 
tendance upon the ordinances of the church and her 
public services. Of course, baptism with water in 
the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the 
Holy Ghost, is appointed by our Lord to be the en- 
trance door into the Visible Church. But as baptism 
necessitates the work of an active agent upon the 
passive recipient of the ordinance, it cannot possibly 
be a saving ordinance, either figuratively or otherwise. 
(See Ephesians the 2d, 3d and 9th verses.) If bap- 
tism was a saving ordinance, none who have passed 
the state of infantile justification can be saved who 
are not within the pale of the Visible Church, and 
millions will be lost because they have never had an 
opportunity to be baptized. Yet the people of God 
realize the fact that it is their duty and privilege to 
live within the pale of that church. 



The Wokds of Faith. 243 

For the people of God are peculiar for their at- 
tachment to the public services of that church. The 
preaching of God's word, which is able to make us 
wise unto salvation; its prayer meetings, which if 
rightly conducted are well calculated to augment and 
establish our stock of grace, and to fortify us against 
satanic temptations through the medium of the World 
or the Flesh, or by his more direct impressions upon 
our minds. But most especially do they prize the ordi- 
nance of the Holy Sacrament, and they avail them- 
selves of every opportunity to attend upon these public 
means of grace. The admonition of the inspired 
writer is to meet with the people of God, to unite 
with them in His worship, the reading and expound- 
ing of His word and singing of His praise. It is of 
the utmost importance that we associate ourselves 
with God's people in public worship. How can one 
be warm alone and serve his God aright? It is next 
to impossible to make anything more than a very 
stunted growth in grace and to be little sickly looking 
dwarfs among the trees in the garden of our Lord, 
if indeed the holy fire of God's love in our hearts 
is not completely extinguished for lack of fuel? I 
am persuaded if Christians were more attached to 
each other and more sympathetic with each other, and 
would meet together oftener for Christian communion, 
to assist and encourage each other in the Christian 
race for life eternal, they would receive very many 
spiritual blessings to which they are now entire 
strangers — that is, if in these meetings (designed for 
the higher development of our spiritual growth) we 
keep the world under our feet in its proper place, and 



244 The Words of Faith. 

make Jesus Christ and His religion the predominating 
topic of our conversation. If we do noit do this, the 
design of our Lord in furnishing us with these means 
of grace will be well nigh frustrated. The sacrament 
of our Lord's supper being that ordinance in the 
church instituted by Christ Himself to impress upon 
His people everywhere and at all times the remem- 
brance of His sufferings and death for them, is there- 
fore of the most extreme importance to all the people 
of God, and they are therefore peculiar for their rev- 
erence for and attachment to it, and delight to pub- 
licly acknowledge their love to their Redeemer by 
thankfully receiving the elements of the bread and 
wine and eating and drinking the same, as His own 
appointed representation of His broken body and shed 
blood for us. When we hear Him saying in John, 
6 153 : "Verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye eat 
the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood, ye 
have no life in you." Now read the following five 
verses and also the 26th and two following verses of 
the 26th chapter of Matthews, and I think you will 
see the vast importance of this ordinance. The holy 
sacrament instituted by our Lord on the occasion of 
His last supper with His disciples was the antitype, 
prefigured by the type of the paschal lamb in the 
Jewish church, and it was wisely ordered by Provi- 
dence that the two ends of the two dispensations 
should meet and unite to form one church in Christ, 
and not two churches. The holy to the holiest leads, 
and both unite in Christ, who is the head of one church 
militant and not two, and the Law to observe the 
typical ordinance of eating the paschal lamb is re- 



The Words of Faith. 245 

pealed by the presence of the antitype, the Holy Sac- 
rament, appointed by Christ on the occasion of this 
last supper with His disciples. In like manner all the 
typical ordinances, including the Jewish Sabbath, of 
that dispensation ceased to be obligatory or efficacious, 
they being of no further use because superseded by 
the antitype. For the rest of our blessed Lord Jesus 
Christ not only pertains to the work of creation, but 
also to the work of redemption, which was completed 
when He rose from the dead upon the first day of 
the week. Then the Jewish Sabbath was a type of 
the Christian Sabbath. 



RECAPITULATION. 

It appears to me that the foregoing arguments, 
based as they are, upon the eternal truth of God's 
word, ought to have weight enough in them, to con- 
vince the most skeptical professing Christian that the 
only possibly way to obtain admission into the king- 
dom of glory in the world to come is to get into 
Christ's spiritual kingdom, in the church militant, by 
the divine appointed means of ingress, namely, the Re- 
generation or by being begotten again by the Holy 
Ghost, and thus born into it, until God calls him by 
natural death up into life eternal. This is evidently 
the will of God, and except man runs counter to that 
will by permitting the salt to lose its saltness, that will 
be accomplished. I think if these people seriously 
weighed this matter in their minds they must know 
that to escape the terrible consequences of their sins 
they must be cleansed from them by the application 



24:6 The Words of Faith. 

of the blood of the Son of God, through the agency 
of the Holy Ghost. But, Felix like, these people too 
frequently exclaim, "Go thy way for this time. When 
I have a convenient season I will call for thee." (Acts, 
24th and 25th verses.) Thus they content themselves 
with joining the Visible Church. This union is proper 
and desirable for those for whom this church is de- 
signed, but it is not indispensable to salvation, because 
it alone is insufficient to save a soul from eternal 
death, water baptism being only a figure of the sav- 
ing baptism of the Holy Ghost, which alone can purify 
the soul from sin. Jesus Christ never made a mistake, 
but in the parable of the ten virgins he cut this church 
into two equal parts, five wise and five foolish. He 
might have said seven wise and three foolish, or He 
might have made any other division to show there 
were more wise than foolish, but He did not. How 
terrible to think half the professing Christians are hy- 
pocrits. In five cases out of ten the salt had lost its 
savor and the lamps were gone out for want of oil 
when the bridegroom came. These people often faith- 
fully observe the ordinances of the church of their 
choice, and this constitutes the sum and substance of 
their religion. But many serious people who (maybe) 
are not far from the kingdom of heaven will not join 
the Visible Church because they see hypocrits in it, 
but do not consider except they get into Christ's spir- 
itual kingdom their eternal home will be with hypo- 
crits. 

WM. H. COLLINGS. 



The Woeds of Faith. 247 



Blessed. are the pure in heart, for they shall see 
God. 
When Christ, who is our life, appears, we see the 

face of God; 
And through the rounds of endless years we'll sound 

His praise abroad. 

The holy to the holiest leads, and thence our spir- 
its rise; 
And those who to perfection grow shall meet him in 
the skies. 

Oh, for that faith that works by love and purifies the 

heart; 
That we may grow up into Christ and never from Him 

part; 

But sound with all the Sons of God the depth of love 

divine ; 
And in the image of our Lord our face shall ever 

shine. 
March 30th, 1890. 



248 The Words of Faith. 



MY LAST THOUGHTS ON REGENERATION 



The only place where God and man can meet 
on friendly terms and be reconciled to each other is 
the place prepared by the Holy Ghost for this pur- 
pose. God stoops to meet man by the incarnation, 
that is to say, by infusing His Deity through our hu- 
manity in the womb of the Virgin Mary. This was 
effected by the Holy Ghost. See the words of the 
angel to the Virgin, Luke 1 135 . "The Holy Ghost 
shall come upon thee and the power of the highest 
shall overshadow thee. Therefore also that holy 
thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the 
Son of God." The child born of the Virgin as the 
result of this work of the Holy Ghost under the over- 
shadowing influences of the Eternal Father was called 
the Son of God, because He was really the only be- 
gotten Son of the Eternal Father in body as well as 
soul. He was also called Jesus, as the angel directed, 
because he was really the only Saviour of man. He 
is also called the Son of Man because He was born 
of a Virgin, who was a natural descendant of Abra- 
ham. Thus the first step towards man's restoration 
back to the image and favor of God lost in Adam's 
fall was effected through the agency of the Holy 
Ghost. The second work, or the bringing of man up 
out of spiritual death to meet God in His incarnate 
Son, Jesus Christ, is also the work of the Holy Ghost. 

Of course, Regeneration requires an act of faith 



The Words of Faith. 249 

in God's willingness and power to save. That is, we 
must receive Jesus Christ as the promised Saviour 
before He gives us power to become the sons of God. 
Therefore it is our assent to divine truth when we 
know "it that gives us the power to get salvation. But 
it is not this ordinary or commonplace faith that 
raises man out of spiritual death and unites him to 
Christ in God's incarnate Son Jesus, but a faith be- 
gotten into the soul by the Holy Ghost, for it is "a 
faith/' or rather, "the faith of the operation of God." 
See Colossians, 2:12. It is therefore the work of the 
Holy Ghost to beget into man's spiritually dead soul 
the spark of divine life which comes only in union 
with this God-given faith in Christ's atoning blood, 
for Jesus is the Christ and when this divine spark 
illuminates the soul to see this it empowers the mind 
to grasp it and man is begotten again and restored to 
the kingdom of God in the Church Militant ; and man 
is also restored to his primitive state of spiritual union 
with his maker. But we gain in the second Adam 
more than we lost by the first, for God adopts us into 
His family as joint heirs with Christ to all the bless- 
ings of His heavenly kingdom, and these are more 
than we can either ask or think. 

"Except a man be born again (from above) he 
cannot see (experience) the kingdom of God." 

That is, man in his unregenerated state cannot 
perceive divine truth or grasp saving grace. He 
cannot realize the fact that Christ died for all, and 
saves those only who forsake sin and rely only on His 
all atoning blood for present and eternal salvation, 
and that he inherits this salvation if he complies with 



250 The Words of Faith. 

these conditions, by abstaining from all known sin 
and surrendering his heart or affections into the hands 
of his Saviour, who brings him up out of spiritual 
death, into life, under the happy influences of God's 
forgiving love, thus to get a taste of the riches of His 
grace. 

In our Lord's discourse with Nicodemus on the 
subject of Regeneration He evinces divine wisdom 
by using the word "born" to express the great change 
wrought in the soul when begotten again by the Holy 
Spirit. And also the change in the relations, asso- 
ciations and influences on man's entire person when 
he enters the Visible Church by the ordinance of bap- 
tism, for both these changes are better expressed by 
the word "born" than they can be by the word "bap- 
tize." For although baptism serves as a figure of 
the spirit, yet it fails to be a perfect picture of the 
deep, radical change in the New Birth. 

As we understand the Hebrew word Tabal, it 
means to cleanse from sin, and under the typical dis- 
pensation of the Law, this cleansing process was rep- 
resented by the cutting ordinance of Circumcision, 
but in the Gospel dispensation it is represented by the 
washing process of Christian baptism, which ordi- 
nance being ordained by Christ Himself to be the door 
of ingress into His Visible Church, it is evidently im- 
possible to enter this branch of His kingdom in any 
other way. This is a figure of the application of 
Christ's atoning blood to the soul by the Holy Ghost, 
but not a figure of our Lord's death and burial, the 
divinely instituted emblems of bread and wine, being 
absent in baptism. The word baptisdo does not con- 



The Words of Faith. 251 

vey the true meaning of the word Tabal, for the Greeks 
being Gentiles, did not understand the nature of sin, 
therefore they had no word by which to express its 
cleansing process, and so the translators of the Hebrew 
Scriptures were compelled to use the word Baptisdo 
for Tabal. Now, Baptisdo means to wash things, 
either with or in water, to cleanse them from dirt, 
but not from sin, for sin is spiritual, • and it requires 
a spiritual process to cleanse it or cancel it. Again the 
dirty thing washed by, in, or with water, underwent 
no transition into a new thing. And baptism only rep- 
resents a change of relations and surroundings, that 
is to say, the things washed; dirty things were made 
clean ones, and not made new ones. And this change 
of relationship is all that takes place in Christian bap- 
tism, if we confine it to its meaning in the word 
Baptisdo, and it does this by introducing the person 
into the society of the professed disciples of our Lord 
Jesus Christ, which is the proper place for all true 
Christians. And Christ honors this, His Visible 
Church, by recognizing it as the kingdom of God, 
which is a very comprehensive term, including the 
kingdoms of Grace and Glory in the Militant and 
Triumphant Church. 

We will endeavor now to present our views in 
relation to the word "born." First, the word is a bet- 
ter figure than Baptisdo to express all that can be 
conveyed by the meaning of the latter word, and 
the deep, spiritual change indispensable to salvation. 
In fact, it is the only word in the English language 
with which the writer is familiar that will convey the 



252 The Words of Faith. 

deep, sipirtual meaning of our Lord's discourse with 
Nicodemus. 

First, to be born is to become a new creature by 
experiencing a transition from the mother into the 
light and air of this world. But it is impossible for a 
full grown person to experience the natural birth 
the second time, as the word again necessarily implies 
our Lord's meaning in the third verse of John. The 
third relates exclusively to man's spiritual being, but 
in the fifth verse, before correcting Nicodemus' mis- 
take, He proceeds to say: "Verily, verily, I say unto 
thee, except a man be born of, water and of the Spirit, 
he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." Now, this 
covers the whole subject, as it relates to the complex 
and triune nature of man being admitted into the king- 
dom of God, the water birth relating to physical man 
chiefly, and the spiritual birth to the spiritual man 
exclusively. As many as received Him as the Christ 
of God, to them gave He power to become the Sons 
of God. This proves that something more than this 
faith is necessary to enable us to secure salvation, and 
this is the work of the Spirit begetting into the soul 
implicit trust in and reliance upon the atoning blood 
of the Son of God. In the 13th verse of the 1st chap- 
ter of St. John this work is represented by the figure 
of a birth, but not of blood, nor of the will of the 
flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. This settles 
the question respecting the nature of the first birth 
alluded to in our Lord's discourse, for it was neces- 
sarily of the same nature as this second, or new 
birth, which is strictly spiritual, relating to the soul, 
but having a renovating influence on the body of man. 



The Words of Faith. 253 

Therefore the water birth cannot be the natural birth 
of the body, as many suppose, but it is Christian bap- 
tism, which opens the Visible Church to let the person 
into the kingdom of God. The apostle when introduc- 
ing his gospel represents the Son of God and Saviour 
of man as the living Word and creating arm of Deity, 
before and after His incarnation, and He was, and is, 
and always will be, the inexhaustible and eternal 
source of spiritual light and life. That was the true 
light which lighteth every man that cometh into the 
world. 

Let us now see by comparing the first few verses 
of St. John with the seventh verse of the second chap- 
ter of Genesis how the Old and New Testaments agree 
in establishing the opinions before advanced. The 
apostle writes of two persons in the Godhead eternal- 
ly united. "In the beginning was the Word, and 
the Word was with God, and the Word was God." 
These were Father and Son, the Son bearing the title 
of Word, and He was in the beginning with God. 
This proves the eternal Godhead of Christ in union 
with the Father, and to my mind it establishes the 
fact of the deep mystery of our Lord's Sonship as it 
existed previous to His incarnation, and also the dis- 
tinct personality of Christ, which is as great a mys- 
tery as His eternal Sonship. Moreover, the Word 
was, and still is, the only source of spiritual life and 
light that lighteth every man that cometh into the 
world. 

We will now turn to the 7th verse of the 2d 
chapter of Genesis, which reads as follows : "And the 
Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and 



254 The Words of Faith. 

breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man 
became a living soul." Man did not become a living 
soul before the Lord God, that is, the Word or Son 
of God, breathed into his nostrils the breath of His 
own life, which constituted the first birth of the di- 
vine nature into the human soul, and this is what died 
a spiritual death the day Adam sinned, and what has 
to be restored in the new birth by regeneration before 
man can see or enter into the kingdom of God. It 
does not concern us how long man existed before he 
was blessed with a living soul for he may or may not 
have enjoyed animal life previous to this event. Be 
this as it may, it is impossible to know from this 
short history of the life breathed into man's nostrils 
imparted natural as well as divine life, or if man en- 
joyed natural life previously as animals do. One thing, 
however, is certain, and that is, that God's breathing 
into His creature's nostrils was the finishing stroke 
of omnipotence in man's creation. And it is also cer- 
tain if the Hebrew word which is translated "ser- 
pent," means also ape, as Dr. Adam Clark says it does, 
that the monkey and the serpent belong to the same 
class in this history, Satan being represented by the 
reptile, serpent. And if those persons who claim to 
be descendants of the ancient monkey are correct in 
their conjectures, they are the true representatives of 
this ancient monkey, the satanic serpent, but not the 
representatives of God. 

Satan first caused Eve to doubt the truth of what 
God had said. Thus skepticism became the first sin 
ever committed by our race, but it soon led to many 
other sins. When Adam sinned he involved his pos- 



The Words of Faith. 255 

terity also. Yet no person will ever suffer for Adam's 
sin, for this divine life lighteth every man. Infants 
are all safe in the fold of Christ, but all who are not 
infants have outlived their state of infantile justifica- 
tion, and there is not one righteous one among them. 
In this fact we see the need of Regeneration, and 
there is a measure of the Spirit given unto all persons 
if they will only use it. 

We now present the reader with our opinion of 
the title Word. We think it most appropriately ap- 
plied to the second person in the Holy Trinity, for 
by that person God has always revealed His mind to 
His intelligent creatures, thus communicating His will 
and law unto them; and this has been especially the 
case since the creation of man. So also we convey 
our thoughts by our words, either spoken or written, 
to others, the living Word of God being of a similar 
nature to the spoken word of man, independent of the 
human voice. This last idea tends to raise man up to 
meet God in Christ. Our incarnate Redeemer when 
speaking of Himself generally calls Himself the Son 
of Man, and He does this to familiarize Himself with 
mankind and gain their confidence and love. He also 
calls Himself the Way, the Truth, as well as the Life 
of which we have been writing. 

He is the way, and He alone, 

The only way for sinners known; 

The only way to sinners given 

That leads from death and hell to heav'n. 

He is the truth, will not deceive 

Those who in Him alone believe ; 

As the atoning Lamb of God 

Who spilt for them His precious blood. 



256 The Words of Faith. 

Jesus Christ also calls Himself the Door. See 
St. John, 10:9. This title is acknowledged by our 
Lord in mercy to us, for He is the only door by 
which we can enter into eternal life, for He alone 
hath eternal life. By Him if any man enter in He 
shall be saved and shall go in and out and find pas- 
ture. 

The last nine words prove that our Redeeming 
God will have all His flock free, for He is the good 
Shepherd, and the great one, and is able to burst the 
fetters from men's consciences and lead them into glo- 
rious Christian liberty, for it is not His will that any 
of his flock should be compelled to defile their con- 
sciences. They have not only a right to their choice 
of the branches, but a right to leave any one and join 
any other one if the one they leave does not furnish 
them with pasturage adapted to their spiritual ne- 
cessities. No person can (in accordance with the will 
and law of Christ Jesus) be compelled to remain in 
that branch of the Church by whose net he was cap- 
tured from the sea of the world if he enters it by the 
door of Regeneration, for according to these words 
of our Lord he may go out as well as come in, to find 
pasture. Jesus Christ gives His redeemed and justi- 
fied . people free ingress, egrees and regress in His 
Church Militant. Thank God there is one Door to 
Eternal Life. May God help us to enter by it, and see 
and taste His goodness. Hear the Saviour say: 

"Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man and 
drink His blood, ye have no life in you." 

"Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, 
hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last 



The Words of Faith. 257 

day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is 
drink indeed." 

"He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood 
dwelleth in me and I in him. It is easy to understand 
this as spiritual for the spiritual man, not for man's 
physical body." 

"Let God be His own interpreter and He will 
make it plain." 

Hear Him also say: "It is the Spirit that quick- 
eneth. The flesh profiteth nothing. The words that 
I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." 
See the 6th of John, the 53d and three following 
verses, also the 63d verse. 

What I have further to say on this subject will 
be in poetry, except the following few words which 
present themselves to the writer's mind as an introduc- 
tion to the poem: 

The most stupendous miracle ever wrought was 
for the great benefit of man, and this was effected 
when the creating arm or Living Word of God was 
made flesh and blood, becoming also the Son of Man 
by His incarnation in order to pay for man with His 
most precious blood man's penalty for the violation 
of God's holy Law, which must have sunk every soul 
into the place prepared for the Devil and his angels, 
had it not been for this astonishing display of divine 
goodness and love. 

Notice Jesus says : "Verily, verily, I say unto you, 
I am the door of the sheep." He does not say of 
baptism, but of the sheep. That is the door that opens 
to let my sheep into my fold, the Church Militant, by 
Regeneration, for I am the good Shepherd that giv- 



358 The Words of Faith. 

eth His life for the sheep. And He also will furnish 
suitable pasturage for His flock to which they shall 
have free access. 

No adult descendant of Adam can be in a saved 
state or condition until the illuminating spark of Deity 
or life of the Son of God is diffused through the soul 
t>y the Holy Ghost in Regeneration. 

The only place where God and man can meet on 
friendly terms and be reconciled to each other is the 
place prepared by the Holy Ghost for this purpose. 

God stoops to meet man in the Incarnation, that 
is to say, by introducing His Deity into our humanity 
in the womb of the Virgin Mary. This was the re- 
sult of Holy Ghost work. See the words of the angel 
to the Virgin Mary, Luke, i 135, "The Holy Ghost 
shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest 
shall overshadow thee ; therefore also that holy thing 
which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of 
God." 

The child born of the Virgin as the result of 
this work of the third person in the Godhead under 
the overshadowing influences of the eternal Father 
was most properly named the Son of God by the angel, 
because He was in reality the only begotten Son of 
the Eternal God in His human body, and this is where 
the second person in the Eternal Trinity gets the title 
of Son. This much is established by the angel's words, 
"Therefore also that holy thing," etc., etc. 

This child was also to be called Jesus, because He 
was the Divine Saviour, and in this way God became 
a man to save man. He calls Himself the Son of 
Man because He was born of a virgin, and thus was 



The Words of Faith 259 

blended Deity with humanity, but we know that this 
Son must have existed eternally, for "He was God" 
and His Incarnation was the first step toward man's 
restoration back into the image and favor of God lost 
by the fall of Adam. 

The second work to raise man up to meet God 
in His incarnate Son Jesus is also the work of the 
Holy Ghost, for the three persons of the Godhead 
are all deeply interested in man's salvation, but the 
second person alone redeems with His own blood the 
whole human family. 

This second work of the Spirit is called regenera- 
tion. Of course regeneration to be effected in us re- 
quires an act of faith -in God's power, and willingness 
to save : if we have this faith, this is as much as we can 
do, and right here the Word, or Son of God, steps in 
and offers power to become the sons of God, and this 
power is the faith which is "of the operation of God 
(the Holy Ghost) , for saving faith is not an ordinary 
faith. The common faith of assent to the fact that 
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died for sinners is neces- 
sary, but it does not raise them out of the darkness, 
and death of the carnal state to meet God in His in- 
carnate Living Word Jesus, and be embraced by the 
Father, as His adopted child, all of which is implied 
by the word regeneration, or the new birth. See Col., 
2:10-13. It is the work of the Holy Ghost to beget 
into man's spiritually dead sould the spark of Divine 
life, which man receives through the door of God- 
given faith in Christ's atoning blood, for this Jesus is 
the Christ. 

When this divine spark illuminates the soul, it is 



260 The Words of Faith 

begotten again, and restored to its original state of 
union with God,, being thus regenerated, we enjojr 
more in the second Adam than we lost in the first, for 
God adopts us as joint heirs with Christ to a kingdom 
undefiled and incorruptible in eternal glory, and this 
implies greater blessings than we can either ask or 
think. 

With the greatest propriety our Lord says, Ex- 
cept a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom 
of God. That is, man by nature being in spiritual 
darkness, cannot perceive saving grace in the light of 
God's kingdom, or grasp the fact that as Jesus Christ 
saves all who forsake sin, and trust in Him; and that 
He saves all who forsake sin, and trust in Him; and 
that He saves him, if he does this. That is, if he gives 
up all hopes for salvation except the one hope found- 
ed upon the precious blood of Christ, which was shed 
to atone for his sins, as much as if he had been the 
only sinner. 

So, not being born again (from above), he cannot 
perceive the kingdom of God, or taste and see the 
goodness of God. In our Lord's discourse with Nico- 
demus He displays Divine wisdom by using the word 
born, to express the great change wrought in the re- 
generated person, and not the word baptisdo, which 
fails to express the meaning of that great transition 
from spiritual death into spiritual life. 

If I have been correctly informed, the Hebrew 
word Tabal, means to cleanse from sin. Before Christ 
came this cleansing process was represented by the 
cutting process of circumcision, but for all succeeding 
ages in church history our Lord ordained the washing 



The Words of Faith. 261 

process of baptism as the door of His Visible Church 
on earth, in place of circumcision, both of which were 
intended to represent the cleansing effect of Christ's 
atoning blood on the human soul, when applied to it 
by the Holy Ghost. 

Now the word Baptisdo conveys a very imperfect 
meaning of the Hebrew word Tabal, the Greeks being 
a gentile nation did not understand the nature of sin 
against God, or of the process indispensably necessary 
to cleanse it, and therefore they had no word to ex- 
press the meaning of Tabal. When the Hebrew scrip- 
tures were translated into the Greek language, Bap- 
tisdo comes the nearest, and it only means to wash 
either with, or in water, according to the kind of 
things which needed washing, to purify them from 
earthly impurities ; and the thing washed passed 
through no transition from an old thing to a new, or 
from an old or dead state into a new or live state. It 
was the same old thing after washing as before. Now 
this is what Christian baptism does for the body. It 
furnishes man with a change of relations and sur- 
roundings by taking him into the church, where he is, 
or ought to be, under the direct influence of blood- 
washed companions, for this is the proper place for 
all true Christians. And Christ honors it, in His dis- 
course with Nicodemus, by recognizing it as the king- 
dom of God, which is a very comprehensive term, 
including the kingdoms of grace and glory in the 
church militant and triumphant. 

We shall now offer a few plain remarks on the 
word Born, which we conceive to be the best and 



262 • The Words of Faith. 

only word that will convey our Lord's meaning in its 
far-reaching spiritual depths, to our minds. 

First, to be born into this world is to become a 
new creature, by experiencing a transition from the 
mother, into the light, air and society of the world ; 
but the word again implies that this same birth has 
taken place once before. Now it is impossible for a 
full grown person to experience the second birth of 
his body, therefore the words of our Lord in the 3rd 
verse of the 3rd chapter of St. John relate to the soul 
exclusively, but in the 5th verse He replies to Nico- 
demus ; and in doing so He uses the word Born twice, 
but omits the word again. He first says, Except a, 
man be born of water. This relates to the body, for 
the entire Triune man consists of body, soul and spirit 
and Christ meant by this, that the person must be ad- 
mitted by the door of Christian baptism into the visi- 
ble church, to become a member of it, and enter into 
this department in the Kingdom of God. He next 
says, and of the Spirit; that is, to enable him not 
only to perceive Divine Truth, but to grasp it by 
faith, and be saved by grace through faith into the 
kingdom of ultimate glory. (The faith of assent to 
the fact that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, who died 
for sinners, will save no man. It requires the faith 
which is of the operation of God to save a man.) 

By the foregoing arguments we see that the 
second birth is of the soul, and the first birth of the 
soul was of the same nature. Now let us see by com- 
paring the first four verses of the first chapter of 
John, with the 7th verse of the 2nd chapter of Gen- 
esis, what that was, and when it took place. 



The Words of Faith. 263 

St. John says : In the beginning was the Word, 
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 
Here St. John speaks of two persons in the Godhead 
which are the Father and Son, the Son bearing the ti- 
tle of Word, was in the beginning, that is, eternally 
with God. This proves the eternal Godhead of the 
Son, in union with the Father ; also the distinct per- 
sonality of this Son, or Word, in whom was vested the 
almighty creating power of Deity, in the 4th and 9th 
verses the most essential truths relating to regener- 
ation are expressed : In Him was Life, and the Life 
was the Light of men. This means Christ is the 
eternal fountain of spiritual light and life. 

And the Life was the Light of men, which 
lighteth every man that cometh into the world. 

Now T let us see how this agrees with the history 
of the creation of man in the 7th verse of the 2nd 
chapter of Genesis. John says : In Him was Life 
which was the Light of all men. Xow when God 
made man's body of the dust of the earth, he did not 
become a living soul until He breathed into his nostrils 
the breath of Life. God thus endowed man with His 
own inherent Life, and this is what lighteth every 
infant born into the w r orld ; not the natural body, for 
this sometimes never sees the light of day, but the 
soul. Thank God for this. 

It is not for us to say, or decide, anything more 
of this matter than the short history in Genesis, the 
2nd and 7th verse, reveals to us. Neither, indeed, 
does it concern us, if God's breathing into the nostrils 
of a lifeless physical body diffused animal or natural 
life also in that bodv, or if man existed before this 



264 The Words of Faith. 

event as an animal of the highest type ; but destitute of 
a living soul. 

To return to our subject, the breathing into man's 
nostrils the light of Divine life by God, was the fin- 
ishing stroke of Omnipotence in his creation, and it 
was this that illuminated man's soul and gave it Di- 
vine life. It is this life, which lighteth every person 
coming into the world. As in Adam all die, even so 
in Christ shall all be made alive. No person will die 
the second death for Adam's sin. It was this life 
imparted to Adam in his creation that was lost when 
he fell from a state of innocence, the light of this Life 
being darkened by Satanic doubt, which led to the sin 
of disobedience, and when Adam became a sinner he 
involved his posterity in ruin; but Christ immediately 
came to the rescue, in these words: It shall bruise 
thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel. (Genesis, 
3:15.) So that every infant when born into the world 
has a place prepared for it by Jesus Christ in glory, 
with the redeemed; but alas, we all go astray at the 
end of the infantile state, so that St. Paul could say: 
There is none righteous, no, not one. Therefore, no 
adult can be saved without the second birth of the 
spirit, in regeneration, which work (of the Holy 
Ghost), raises the regenerated person up out of spir- 
itual darkness and death, to divine Life at the feet of 
Jesus, where God adopts him as a joint heir with His 
Son, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled. 
Remember, Christ redeems us. But the Holy Spirit 
must apply the efficacy of His atoning blood to the 
soul to cleanse it from sin; and There is a measure 



The Words of Faith. 265 

of the spirit given to every person, so that we shall 
be without excuse if not saved. 

There are two reasons why persons differ in their 
views of our Lord's meaning. In John, 3rd chapter, 
1st and 5th verse. The first is the translation of the 
Hebrew word Tabal into the Greek word Baptisdo, 
The second reason is the curtailing of the meaning of 
the Greek word Annoothen in our English Bible, by 
rendering it again, instead of again from above. 

One thought more on the title (Word) ascribed 
to the second person of the Holy Trinity. It is by 
this second person, or Son, that God has spoken to 
His intelligent creatures in all ages of church hisitory 
communicating unto them a knowledge of his law ; and 
will, as we convey our thoughts to other persons by 
means of our words, so God communicates His mind 
to us by His Son. In the beginning was the Word, 
-so that we "find that God did this before the creation 
of man, in communicating His mind to angels; but 
Christ is emphatically the Living Word, having 
eternal Life in Himself; nor can we get eternal Life 
out of Christ. But the most astonishing thing is, that 
this creating arm, or mouthpiece of Deity should be 
made flesh, and dwell among us, our Lord speaking 
of Himself generally styles Himself the son of man — 
this is done to familiarize Himself with men, that they 
might be encouraged to trust Him and love Him. He 
also styles Himself door. (John, the 10th chapter and 
9th verse) : I am the door; by me if any man enter 
in, he shall be saved. Nor can we ever enter heaven 
in any other way, for the loving Redeemer says : I 



266 The Words of Faith. 

am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no man cometh 
unto the Father, but by Me. 

There is no way to happiness, or heaven, or even 
to escape hell (which was not intended for man, but 
for devils), out of Jesus Christ, for Christ is the soul 
saving truth, and the Eeternal Life. Jesus (ithe living 
Word of God, also says, in the 51st verse. of the 6th 
chapter of St. John : I am the living bread which 
came down from heaven ; if any man eat of this bread, 
he shall live forever. 

I will now conclude my observations, or remarks, 
on this part of my subject by a poem prepared ex- 
pressly for this place. 

September, 1902. 



A POEM. 



The Only Life-Giving Food of the Human Soul Is the 
Flesh and Blood of Jesus Christ. 

Jesus makes His meaning plain in the following 
words : It is the Spirit that quickeneth, etc. The 
words that I speak unto you, they are Spirit, and they 
are Life. These are Jesus' words. 

I earnestly request all readers of the following 
poem to examine its Divine foundation, which they 
may find in the 47th and ten following verses of the 
6th chapter of St. John; also in the 17th verse of the 
second chapter of Revelations : 

Oh wondrous grace, amazing love, 

That brought Thee, Saviour, from above ; 

Thy flesh indeed, is food divine ; 

Thy blood, dear Lord, is heavenly wine. 



The Words of Faith. 267 

Sustain'd by these, we can defy 
The power of sin, when called to die, 
And have the victory over death 
when we have draw T n our latest breath. 

Poor starving souls, without this food, 

Are void 61 Life, and Light, and Good, 

For nothing can fill up the place 

Of this almighty saving grace. 

Daily on Thee, by faith to feed, 

Is what our higher natures need; 

This Bread of Life, sent down from heav'n, 

Evermore to us be given. 

All who by faith so feed on Thee, 
Eternal life will surely see; 
And Thou wilt raise them up at last 
From nature's chain which held them fast, 
And set them up, on thrones on high, 
In glory worlds, above the sky, 
Where they all cleansed from every sin, 
Will drink immortal pleasures in. 

Oh ! may I ever dwell in Thee, 
And Thou, dear Saviour, reign in me; 
Thou dost thy life for sinners give. 
And those who feed on Thee will live, 
Safe from the second death in hell, 
With Jesus evermore to dwell, 
In union with God the Son, 
As He is with His Father one. 



268 The Words of Faith. 

This hidden manna we all need 
To eat and drink, the same, indeed; 
To see our names in the white stone 
Which only to us can be known; 
Jesus will break this stone in two, 
Keep part, and give the rest to you, 
And when, as our last Judge He sits, 
We'll find each part the other fits. 

When ends our pilgrimage beneath, 
We worship at our Saviour's feet ; 
Exalted to those thrones on high, 
Man's higher nature will not die. 
Our frail clay house will glide away, 
As we rise to eternal day, 
Clothed in a spotless, Glory dress, 
Which is our Saviour's righteousness; 
Bold, we appear before His throne, 
And claim His kingdom as our home. 
September 12, 1902. 



NOTE. — This glory dress is the wedding gar- 
ment, without which none ever find a home in glory. 
(See Mathew, 22nd chapter, nth to 16th verse, inclu- 
sive.) ; 



The Words of Faith. 269 



ON THE NEW BIRTH. 



The following Scripture, contained in the 2nd 
chapter and 7th verse of Genesis, and the first few 
verses of St. John's gospel, throws more light on this 
grand and all-important subject than all the writings 
and comments of modern theologians combined: 

And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the 
ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of 
life; and man became a living soul. 

Also in the New Testament: In the beginning 
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the 
Word was God. All things were made by Him, in 
Him was life ; and the life was the light of men. And 
the light shineth in darkness. That was the true light 
which lighteth every man that cometh into the world; 
His own received Him not, but as many as received 
Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of 
God, even to them that believe on His name, which 
• (are) born, not of blood, nor of (the flesh) or the 
will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. 

These words (in the New Testament) were evi- 
dently written long after the conversation between 
our Lord and Nicodemus took place. They are the 
words of our Lord's favorite disciple, and taken as 
they stand, connected with the fact recorded in Gen- 
esis, before referred to, they furnish us with the best 
explanation that has ever been given of that ambig- 
uous Scripture; as it appears in our translation, 



270 The Words of Faith. 

Except a man be born again, he cannot see the king- 
dom of God. We observe that the Greek word, which 
is by our translators changed into the English word 
again, has a compound meaning. It means, again 
from above. Had the translators given the full mean- 
ing of the original Greek word, it would have read ; 
again from above, and we should never have thought 
that the natural birth of our bodies was the first birth, 
to which this new birth was second, because the new 
birth, which takes place when we are born again, is 
from above, proceeding directly from God, through 
the influences of His Eternal Spirit, first working con- 
viction of sin in us that leads to genuine repentance, 
and also begetting saving faith in our souls in the 
atoning blood of Christ. Our natural birth necessarily 
proceeds from our earthly parents. Therefore because 
the second, or new birth, is from above, the first birth 
must have been from above also, and the fact that it 
was is fully established by the Scriptures heading this 
argument. Our Lord says That which is born of the 
flesh, is flesh, thus informing Nicodemus that (thus 
far) he was speaking of the spiritual nature of man 
only, and therefore the first birth must have been the • 
begetting of the Divine nature into man's soul at his 
creation, when the Lord God that is the logus, or 
Word, the second person of the Trinity, breathed into 
his nostrils, and made his soul to live, reflecting His 
own light and image. It was the work of the arm of 
Deity, or Son of God, to illuminate man in the first 
place with his own inherent life, and light. This be- 
ing lost in the fall of Adam, man is spiritually blind 
and dead until this same Life and Light is restored 



The Words of Faith. 271 

in his regeneration, which renders him a new crea- 
ture, spiritually. These Scriptures of the Old and 
Xew Testaments completely sustain this view of the 
New Birth. 

Our Lord told Nicodernus that except he was born 
again (^from above) he could not see the kingdom of 
God, for reasons before noticed, he being spiritually in 
sin, that is, void of spiritual sensibility, so much so 
that the observance of no ceremonial rites, or church 
ordinances, nor yet the open acknowledgment that I 
am a teacher come from God will avail diee anything 
except thou are born again. This was undoubtedly a 
great shock, to Xicodemus. He was astonished be- 
yond measure, and so it is to all self-righteous pro- 
fessing Christians, who suppose that a strictly moral 
life, coupled with a uniform conformity to church ord- 
inances, will recommend them to God, and induce Him 
to forgive their sins. Those who trust thus in their 
own works will find their prop slip from under them 
in death and land them in hell naked, their works be- 
ing void of merit are not accepted as righteousness 
by God. Nicodernus, however, had not as yet ac- 
knowledged the Messiahship of our Lord. This was 
the great stumbling block of the Jews unto whom He 
came, but they received Him not (in this way), but to 
as many as received Him, to them gave He power to 
become the Sons of God. It is, therefore, necessary to 
believe that Jesus Christ is the real Immanuel, the 
Son of the living, Eternal God. But notice, a moral 
life and church fellowship, a belief and profession that 
Christ is the Son of God (all this), does not make 
people the children of God, or place them in His 



272 The Words of Faith. 

Kingdom; it only gives them power to become the 
Sons of God. It is to be feared that thousands in the 
Christian world (remember, I do not say the church 
militant), are in this condition, for notwithstanding 
they have been baptized into the visible church, they 
have not entered the spiritual Kingdom of Christ in 
the regeneration. Reader, examine yourself ; try your- 
self by these Scriptures. Are you destitute of spir- 
itual life, and light in your soul? Have you, or have 
you not, the internal evidence resulting from God's 
spirit, witnessing with your conscience that Jesus has 
washed away your sins with His own blood? Remem- 
ber, the robe of hypocrisy will not cover the deformi- 
ties of your sins in the spirit world; neither will the 
robe of self-righteousness. Nothing short of the robe 
of our Redeemer's righteousness will enable us to 
stand acquitted before the bar of Divine Justice. 
Question — Do we possess this robe? If we do, and 
retain it till death, we shall not be unclothed, even 
then, but clad with it we shall drop our mortality, and 
rise in our new dress into immortal life, even death it- 
self being swallowed up of life. 

Our Lord answers Nicodemus, in verse 4, in these 
words : Verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born 
of Water, and of the Spirit (also), he cannot enter into 
the Kingdom of God. Now why does our Lord intro- 
duce Water into his discourse on this spiritual sub- 
ject? Evidently not because it was in any way con- 
nected with the natural birth, for He refutes this idea 
in these words: That which is born of the flesh, is 
flesh. Therefore water has no reference to this birth, 
as some suppose it has. But it is introduced to show 



The Words of Faith. 273 

that the ordinance of Baptism is the divinely appoint- 
ed way of ingress for the Physical man into the Visi- 
ble church, even as Holy Ghost baptism is the way into 
the spiritual kingdom, with this difference, the latter 
is a real change, the former a relative change; and a 
figure of the spiritual change. 

In writing on the word Water in this connection, 
permit me to observe, the phrase Kingdom of God is 
a most comprehensive term, extending throughout the 
universe, so far as God's kingdom is concerned, but 
in this connection it includes the kingdom of grace in 
time, and the kingdom of glory in eternity, and there- 
fore relates to man in his corporeal nature, as well as 
his spiritual nature. The former relation in connec- 
tion with the Visible church, the only way to enter 
this church is by being baptized with water. Our 
Lord informs Nicodemus, by this language, to-wit: 
Born of water, that the complete man, body, soul and 
spirit, is included in this great work, but that he 
made a mistake to think two natural births were 
required to effect it, for the natural birth cannot take 
place twice, but the spiritual life and light of God 
which has been ruined in man's soul can be restored 
to man again, and must be, before he can see the King- 
dom of God, in grace and glory, or enter into it. The 
last words of Christ to His disciples, recorded in the 
19th verse of the 28th chapter of Mathew, establish 
the fact that Christ designed the Visible church should 
be in close union with His spiritual kingdom, and that 
all Christians should be included in it, and it is indeed 
very desirable to be in connection with it. St. Paul 
says: I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the 



274 The Words of Faith. 

mercies of God, that ye present your bodies, a living 
sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your 
reasonable service. The mercy of redemption and the 
gift of the Holy Ghost are sufficient reasons why we 
should all corform to the will of Christ by uniting 
with the church by baptism, and this is the only way 
by which we can make a public consecration of our 
bodies to His service. It is presumably easier for us 
to grow in grace inside the pales of the church than 
it is outside. 

But if it should be asked why does our Lord use 
:the words, born of water, instead of baptized with wa- 
ter, or indeed, why does He use the word Born at all 
in this intercourse with Nicodemus, we will endeavor 
to give you what is, to our mind, a satisfactory an- 
swer to both these questions. The word Born fur- 
nishes the mind with a more comprehensive sense of 
the changes wrought in both cases, and it fixes the 
cense so that there can be no mistake. For instance, to 
baptize means to wash with or in water, to be in ac- 
cord with the meaning of Baptisdo. But to be born 
means a change of place and surroundings ; and this 
change, so far as man's body is concerned, is con- 
summated at his baptism, but the word baptize does 
not express this change. Our Lord gave Nicodemus 
the full meaning of the complete change necessary in 
the entire man. Again, the natural birth does not 
change the nature of the child born. It is, therefore, 
a relative change, for it introduces it into the world. 
But the spiritual birth is a real change. It is a com- 
plete change of man's moral and spiritual nature, that 
cannot be expressed in any other way than by a new 



The Words of Faith. 275 

^birth. It imparts new spiritual life to the senses of 
spiritual perception of Divine realities, which the 
carnal man can never realize, or see, just as the nat- 
ural birth permits the child to use his five natural 
senses of seeing, hearing, feeling, smelling and tast- 
ing, the things of this world. When the infant is born 
it is best if possible to feed it with its mother's milk. 
When a person is born again of the Spirit nothing is 
so suitable as a spiritual food, as the pure, unadulter- 
ated milk of the Word, furnished by the Spirit. The 
Divine Image is first begotten into our souls in regen- 
eration, but as we grow in grace it is increased, and 
finally perfected in our purification, or sanctification. 
Finally, as the natural birth of the body introduces an 
additional person into this world to breath the air of 
the locality where he or she is born, be it pure or be 
it impure; also to eat and drink the food best suited 
to its requirements, age and constitution in the vari- 
ous stages of its existence. For this purpose it is first 
placed in the care of nurses and teachers, until it is 
able to take proper care of itself, mix with society and 
share in the sentiments, opinions and convictions of 
those with whom it associates. Even so, the water 
birth of Christian baptism introduces an additional 
person into the Visible church, to breathe the spiritual 
air of that church which he joins, be it pure or impure, 
and to feed on the spiritual food provided for him and 
others by the chruch — and for this purpose: He or 
she is supposed to be, at first, placed in the special 
care of good, or qualified nurses and teachers, until 
able to take care of himself and assume the regular 
church work, with all its responsibilities; how intense- 



276 The Words of Faith. 

ly important that the spiritual atmosphere and nour- 
ishment breathed in and provided by the church should 
be pure Christianity, without any taint of either skep- 
ticism or credulity ! 

But to be born again of the spirit means vastly 
more than this relative change wrought by baptism. 
It is a complete change of man's spiritual nature, pro- 
ducing a new creature in Christ Jesus. The water 
birth, or baptism, in the case of infants, takes place 
while they are yet in the spiritual Kingdom of God, 
and for this reason they are not required to exercise 
faith in Christ, but are saved without it. Christ's life 
and light that lighteth every man, has illuminated 
them. But faith is required of all who outlive the 
state of infantile justification. For St. Paul tells us 
there is none righteous, no, not one. For all have 
sinned, and come short of the glory of God. St. Paul 
says, in Romans, the 4th and 15th verse: For where 
no law is, there is no transgression; consequently no 
sin, for sin is the transgression of the law. Therefore, 
St. Paul says again, in the 13th verse of the 5th chap- 
ter of this Epistle : Sin is not imputed where there is 
no law. And in the 9th verse of the 7th chapter, he 
says: I was alive without the law once; but when 
the commandment came sin revived, and I died. That 
is he, himself, was alive once, while in a state of in- 
fantile irresponsibility, and consequent justification. 
For the personal pronoun I, in this connection, signi- 
fies he, himself, for by the use of this pronoun, he de- 
clares it to be his own personal experience which may 
be also understood as a personification of the condi- 
tion of all that ever come into the world. The above 



The Words of Faith. 277 

is a proof of infantile justification, and consequently 
that infants are included in God's spiritual Kingdom, 
before and after baptism, should they be fortunate 
enough to be thus received into the Visible church to 
share in its fostering care ; and protection. 

For of such is the kingdom of God. That is, of 
infants themselves, with all other older persons who 
are born again, but no adult can enter it who is not 
like an infant, in innocence and humility, and these 
qualifications absolutely require all adults to be born 
again from above, or of the Spirit. It must, however, 
be acknowledged, although the natural birth falls 
short of being a perfect figure of the spiritual cleans- 
ing from sin, effected by the application of Christ's 
atoning blood to the soul. Yet it comes nearer to it 
by producing a new physical creature, than water 
baptism, which only produces a relative change, of 
the same physical creature. 

The words of our Lord to Nicodemus in the 5th 
verse of St. John's gospel, the 3rd chapter, is an an- 
swer to Nicodemus's reply to our Lord's statement in 
the 3rd verse, and it assures him with the most in- 
tense c olemnity, notwithstanding the great mistake 
which he had made by supposing he meant it was nec- 
essary for a man to be born into this w r orld twice in 
order to see the Kingdom of God. It is as if He had 
said : What I hitherto informed thee of, in relation to 
this subject, relates exclusively to the Spiritual, not the 
corporal man, therefore his natural birth is not the 
first birth, which has to be renewed by being born 
again ; nevertheless, I furthermore inform thee that 
this great work of which I speak, is so perfect, and 



278 The Words of Faith. 

complete as to embrace man's triune nature, transform- 
ing it in every feature; consequently it affects man's 
physical nature, as well as his spiritual, for he must be 
born of water, or baptized into some branch of the 
Christian church (which is, or ought to be, embraced 
in the Kingdom of God). If he ever enters it, for I 
ordain baptism with, or in, water, in the name of the 
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, to be 
the door of this church, because it is a figure of the 
baptism of the Holy Ghost, of which I spake unto thee, 
and which is a real birth of a new spiritual creature, 
whereas to be born of water in baptism does not pro- 
duce a new physical creature, for man has the same 
physical nature after baptism as he had before, just 
as the babe retained the nature and constitution of his 
parents, but the baptised person, like the babe, experi- 
ences a relative change of circumstances, as they re- 
late to society, and surroundings. Finally, I repeat, 
as the natural birth ushers an additional person into 
the world, so baptism ushers an additional person into 
the Visible church. 

Christ, speaking of the natural birth in verse 6, 
says : That which is born of the flesh, is flesh. And 
it is absurd to think if He had meant the natural birth 
in the preceding sentence. He would have called it a 
birth of water. He used this language to convince 
Nicodemus that the water birth was not the natural 
birth. Had our Lord meant the natural birth, by the 
words born of water, He would not have expressed 
His meaning in this obscure way, but would have said, 
Born of the flesh, for His intention was to enlighten, 
and not darken the mind of Micodemus on this subject 



The Words of Faith 279 

but this interpretation of His meaning entails the nec- 
essity of two natural births to be experienced by the 
same person ; in fact, this is the necessary consequence 
of placing the first birth alluded to by our Lord, as the 
natural birth. Every person is born of the flesh once, 
and if to be born of water means the same thing, every, 
person must be born of the flesh twice to enter the 
Kingdom of God. For our Lord spake to Nicodemus 
of both these changes produced by the water, and the 
spirit, as events yet to take place in the man, without 
any reference to what he had already experienced. 
Mark the words, Except a man, etc., etc. 

THE NEW BIRTH. 

Translating the Hebrew word, Tabal, into the 
Greek word, Baptisdo, and curtailing the meaning of 
the Greek, anoothan, by rendering it in English 
in the word, again, instead of, again from above, have 
made the doctrine of the new birth hard to understand 
if we confine ourselves to the English language, be- 
cause there was no Greek word that expressed the 
meaning of the Hebrew word Tabal (which means to 
cleanse from sin), it is translated into the Greek word, 
Baptisdo, which means to cleanse from filth, either 
with, or in water. Therefore Christ uses the word 
birth, to express both the relative and the radical 
change wrought in man by water baptism, and Holy 
Ghost baptism, the first affecting his body, the second 
his soul, because the word birth expresses His mean- 
ing much better than the word Baptize, in both cases. 
Therefore, as to be born again means also to be born 
from above again, the first birth must have been from 



280 The Words of Faith. 

above, and could not have been the natural birth, 
Neither can it be the water birth of baptism, for we 
have before proved that baptism produces only a rela- 
tive change, affecting man, by admitting his person 
into the Visible church. For, as the natural birth 
produces a new natural creature, so the birth of the 
spirit produces a new spiritual creature. The natural 
birth lets us into the world; the water birth into the 
Kingdom of God; the two births cannot be the same. 
True, the natural lets a justified creature into the 
world, but the world is sinful in the sight of God, and 
subject to Satanic influences, and therefore is not the 
Kingdom of God, in this divine sense. But the water 
birth makes us sit together in heavenly places, in Christ 
Jesus, in His Visible church, on earth. (See Epes., 
2:1-6.) 



The Words of Faith. '281 



THE STONE CUT OUT OF THE MOUNTAIN 
WITHOUT HANDS. 



I am deeply impressed with a desire to express 
my opinion in relation to the term, "The Christian 
Church." In doing this, I refer the reader to the 44th 
and 45th verses of the 2nd chapter of Daniel as a 
foundation for my introductory remarks. The quo- 
tation reads as follows: And in the days of these 
kings shall the God of Heaven set up a kingdom which 
shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not 
be left to another people, but it shall break in pieces, 
and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for- 
ever. 

Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut 
out of the mountain without hands ; and that it break 
in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver and 
the gold ; the great God hath made known to the king 
what shall came to pass hereafter; and the dream is 
certain, and the interpretation thereof sure. 

God's ancient people, the Jews, were his peculiar 
people, to whom he condescended to make known from 
time to time, His will, by his prophets ; and with whom 
he deposited his law, these Jews were also under the 
peculiar and special protection of God, because they 
were the children of Abraham after the flesh, to whom 
God had promised (Genesis, 22 :i8) : And in thy seed 
shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. 

This seed, St. Paul tells us, was Christ, and Christ 



282 The Words of Faith. 

became Immanuel in connection with these people. 
They were, therefore, His Blood relatives. But they 
were not peculiar in the sense they imagined, for in 
the promised seed (not seeds) all the nations of the 
earth (Gentiles as well as Jews), were to be blessed. 

Now the Jews had sinned so long and so greiv- 
ously against so much light (for the age in which they 
lived), and such wonderful displays of God's awful 
majesty and power, holiness and justice, as well as 
His care and regard for them as a nation, that God 
for a season partially withdrew Himself from them, 
and selected Nebuchadnezzer as His medium (in con- 
nection with His prophet Daniel) to communicate His 
purposes with regard to certain important future 
events. Let Christians beware, not to presume on 
God's regard for them, so as to sin, as these Jews did, 
lest a worse thing come upon us, who have superior 
light and privileges. 

But their sin found them out and they were car- 
ried away by Nebuchadnezzer into Babylon, and God 
caused this heathen king to dream this dream. Pass- 
ing over all the intervening events foretold in this 
dream, between the fall of the Babylonish empire, and 
rise and rule of the Roman ; during the period in which 
the Son of God became incarnate, we proceed to notice 
Daniel's interpretation of the stone cut out without 
hands, in our text. From which it appears that this 
stone represents a kingdom, with its king guiding, di- 
recting and overruling, with consummate skill and 
power, all the affairs of its interior, and directing to a 
successful termination all its dealings with other king- 
doms. 



The Words of Faith. 283 

# 

Now this king is Christ. (John's Gospel, the 18th 
chapter, middle clause of the 37th verse). Jesus an- 
swered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end 
was I born, and for this cause came I into the world. 
The stone which the builders rejected is become the 
head of the corner. (Psalm, 11 :22.) These builders 
were the Jews while under the iron rule of Rome, and 
Christ is the head of the corner, indeed, of the entire 
superstructure of the Christian church, in this connec- 
tion that church means the kingdom of Christ, which 
will finally destroy all the kingdoms of darkness, and 
therefore cannot refer to any branch of the Visible 
church. Let the builders in the church to-day take 
heed not to reject Christ by substituting church ordi- 
nances (proper in their place) for the vicarious suffer- 
ings and precious blood of our glorious Redeemer, 
which is the sole foundation of the Christian's hope. 

The king saw that the stone was cut out of the 
mountain without hands. The complete figure, the 
Stone, the Mountain, and the cutting out without 
hands, refers to the incarnation of Christ and shows 
clearly that man had no hand in procuring it. This be- 
ing so, man must accept salvation by grace alone; 
entirely independent of his own work, of obedience 
to God's commands, for man had no part as an ac- 
tive agent in this wonderful transaction, which was 
destined eventually to annihilate the kingdoms of 
darkness. The stone also prefigures the kingdom of 
Christ, or the universal church militant, which shall 
never be destroyed, but after the utter annihilation of 
all the kingdoms of darkness, all superstition and 



284 The Words of Faith. 

error, it shall run on with an even and harmonious 
course throughout all the ages of time. 

Now this glorious kingdom is the Christian 
church. Not any distinct branch of that church, which 
may elect to call themselves by that name, but the uni- 
versal church that consists of all genuine believers in, 
and lovers of Christ. This church has indeed become 
a great mountain, and it is in reality a most glorious 
kingdom, where Christ is, and forever will be, the 
reigning King. But it by no means fills the whole 
earth as yet. Nevertheless, as it rolls on through the 
ages of time, its bulk and its beauty will continually 
increase, and near future events are destined to aug- 
ment both, and greatly acelerate its progress toward 
the accomplishment of its mission. When God said, 
Let there be light, it immediately shone forth, out of 
the thick darkness that enveloped the earth like a man- 
tle, through which no ray of light had ever penetrat- 
ed, iluminating those regions and rendering the ob- 
jects contained in them visible, when the time came 
for ocular demonstration. 

Even so shall it be in the spiritual kingdom, as in 
the natural, for one king governs both. There shall be 
a period of indefinite duration and great spiritual pros- 
perity in the church, and she shall put on her beautiful 
garments of Truth, Light and Praise, and in righteous- 
ness shall she shine forth into all the dark places of 
the earth, filling the same with the sweet music of 
her songs of praise, illuminating the mind, rectifying 
the understanding everywhere. Truth shall not only 
be brought to the surface, but it shall shine forth with 
the unmistakable brilliancy of self-evident matters of 



The Words of Faith. 285 

fact, like diamonds of the first water. Vice and error, 

ignorance and superstition, shall no longer be able to 
conceal their hidious deformities, and ruinous conse- 
quences, for this glorious spiritual light shall expose 
their true character, only to be rejected by mankind. 

If I have a correct understanding of God's word 
and can read the signs of the times correctly, the time 
is not so distant as some suppose, when there will be 
no discord in the music of the church. It will 
harmonize with the church triumphant. At pres- 
ent, however, the different denominations of Chris- 
tians, which hesult from this discord, serve pretty 
much the same purpose as the different sittings in a 
temple of worship. But in this happy time there will 
be a unity of spirit prevailing in the church, with re- 
gard to doctrinal opinions, that will merge all these 
denominations into one body, which may be justly 
named "The Christian Church/' May the good Lord 
hasten the time. But the word Christian is a generic 
name that cannot be justly applied to any one branch 
of the church, as the specific name of that branch, to 
the exclusion of the other branches. Take notice, I do 
not include in these remarks any spurious or anti- 
Christian church. I speak only of the true church, 
wherever it may be found. 

Do you say, Why cannot this name be justly ap- 
plied to a branch of the church ? I answer, because of 
the inference entailed by such a claim, which with the 
definite article The, immediately preceding the words, 
Christian Church, is this : We are the only society of 
Christians ; other denominations are not Christian, but 
what their respective names claim for them; but we 



286 The Words of Faith. 

claim to be Christians. The limiting adjective or def- 
inite article, The, fixes the true meaning of the phrase 
or name to be this and only this. But Christian is a 
generic name, and as such, it is the common property 
of all true believers in Jesus Christ, as the Son of God, 
the second person in the Holy Trinity, the promised 
Messiah, the Redeemer of mankind, the sole source 
and fountain of eternal life. Every person who has 
this faith, and trusts in Christ alone for the pardon of 
his sins and the final salvation of both his soul and his 
body, and lives in conformity with his profession of 
faith and the teaching of the holy Scriptures to the 
extent of his ability, has an undoubted right to claim to 
be a Christian, because he cannot do this without the 
baptism of the Holy Ghost, which alone can make a 
Christian out of a sinner, a person may go through all 
the ceremonies of water baptism and be baptized by 
any of the officials of any branch of the church, and 
yet not be a Christian in the sight of God. The true 
Christian may be found either inside or outside the 
pale of any Visible church ; of course, his safest place 
is inside the fold, with the lambs of Christ's flock. 

Therefore the name, "The Christian Church, will 
never be acknowledged by the Christian world at large 
to 1 >elong to any branch of that church exclusively, and 
it will not stick, except in that branch where it orig- 
inated. The Presbyterians, the Methodists, the Bap- 
tists, and many other denominations are Christians, yet 
none of them claim the name, "The Christian Church/' 
as exclusively their own. 

To illustrate what I have been saying in relation 
to the words, "The Christian Church," suppose that in 



The Words of Faith. 287 

a certain manufacturing town there were three or four 
factories, all presenting pretty much the same outward 
appearance, and all using steam as a motive power for 
working m wood. Now suppose one of these factories 
had the following words, painted in large, showy char- 
acters :, completely across its front: "The Steam Fac- 
tory," and a person being a stranger in the place, not 
acquainted with its usages, observed the blazing sign 
across the front of factory No. I. Do you not think 
he w T ould infer from this sign that the other factories 
did not have the necessary apparatus for generating 
steam, and that all the work in them was done by hand, 
except they used some other power, maybe gasoline or 
electricity, or wind or water, but certainly not steam? 

Now this stranger's curiosity led him to inspect 
the interior of all the factories, and he made the as- 
tounding discovery that each was owned by an incor- 
porated company distinct from all the rest, and they 
all used steam as a motive power. 

I conceive this to be a fair illustration of the 
church today with respect to the generic title of "The 
Christian Church." .But, of course, if a denomination 
of Christians choose to call themselves by that name it 
is nobody's business but their own ; as steam was com- 
mon to all the factories, so Christianity is common to 
all the churches. 

Observe, reader, the builders of which our Lord 
spake, when he quoted the Scripture, before cited, in 
Psalm the 118th and 22nd, were Jews, workmen in 
their church, which was a continuation of that church 
that was with Moses in the wilderness, and He charged 
them with rejecting the Stone, and declared that the 



288 The Words of Faith. 

same had become the head of the corner in their build- 
ing, not the head of the corner of some other edifice, 
or church. Now this Stone was Christ, and this proves 
that Christ was the head of the church while it was 
under the dispensation of the Law (and He still con- 
tinues to be its head when this typical administration 
is superseded by the glorious realities of its anti- 
type). I see no indications of a new church, but 
there was, of necessity, a change made in the institu- 
tions of the church when Christ came in the flesh, of 
which change we shall speak more particularly further 
on. But when did this change first take place? Let 
us see. The link which united the dispensation of the 
Law with that of the Gospel, was forged by Christ at 
His last supper with dis disciples, while they were eat- 
ing the typical Paschal lamb. He instituted the Sacra- 
ment of the Lord's supper, to be a perpetual remem- 
brance of the breaking of his body, and shedding of 
his blood for the sins of many, and He thus unites the 
type of the Passover with its antitype the Holy Sac- 
rament, and He welded that link when He hung up- 
on the Cross for the sins of mankind. 

Take notice, the believers in Jesus Christ had not 
as yet received the name of Christians ; neither did they 
receive that name on the day of Pentecost, but they af- 
terward received it at Antioch. On the day of Pen- 
tecost, according to the first four verses of the 2nd 
chapter of Acts. The Apostles, the Disciples and the 
believers in Jesus Christ, were all with one accord in 
one place, waiting for the baptism of the Holy Ghost. 
Christ's promise was fulfilled and the same day there 
were added unto them about 3,000 souls. I ask, Added 



The Words of Faith. 289 

unto whom, unto persons inside the church, or out- 
side? You say to the believers. Exactly. But these 
believers were still Jews, and members of the old 
church, but under the new dispensation. For it was 
impossible for them to be added to a new church when 
heretofore it had no existence. Great and glorious 
changes took place in the days of these kings, when 
this glorious kingdom was set up, but these changes 
did not affect the foundation of God's church then in 
the world, for its foundation was the Stone in the 
Mountain, which (in the days of those kings) was cut 
out without hands. And this Stone is Christ, the same 
yesterday, to-day, and forever. 

These changes only affected the exterior appear- 
ance of the edifice or church by changing its ordi- 
nances, leaving the church still standing. The visible 
display of God's glory, and symbol of his presence 
called the Shekinah, was suspended, and superseded by 
its antitype, the presence of God incarnate in Jesus 
Christ. The door of admission into the church, the 
bloody rite of circumcision which shadowed forth the 
work of the Holy Ghost cutting away sin by repent- 
ance, and was a type of Christian baptism, was su- 
perseded by the rite of baptism, its antitype, which 
was a symbol of the washing of regeneration by the 
same spirit, the Holy Ghost; also legal righteousness 
of the Levitical law, is superseded by its antitype, 
the righteousness of faith in Christ, working love 
to Christ in the human heart. 

The typical rite of the Passover is superseded by 
its more glorious antitype, the Holy Sacrament of 
our Lord's Supper, representing the body and blood 



290 The Words of Faith. 

of Christ, received spiritually into the soul to invig- 
orate it, with new spiritual life, being represented by 
the bread and wine, received into the natural body to 
sustain and prolong its natural life. The shedding of 
the blood of beasts to offer as sacrifices for sin, which 
could not atone for it, but were types of the sacrificial 
blood and death of Christ. These Jewish sacrifices 
ceased, being superseded by their antitype, the igno- 
minious death of the Son of God, our Saviour Jesus 
Christ, hanging upon the cross, and shedding his 
blood, for the sins of the human family. 

Lastly, the shadowy seventh day Sabbath, and the 
year of jubilee (being the 50th year, not the 49th) ; 
the first being a type of the rest of our Lord from His 
work of creation, and the second a type of our first 
day Christian Sabbath. These were both superseded 
by their antitypes, or by the resurrection of Christ on 
first day of the week, and resting from His second, and 
more painful work of redemption, thus laying the 
foundation of the Christian Sabbath by changing the 
Sabbath from the seventh day to the first, in conform- 
ity with the Law ; for we see that all typical rites and 
ceremonial observances of these rites under the law of 
Moses ceased when superseded by their respective an- 
titypes in the Gospel dispensation. Thus two rests 
from Creation, and from Redemption, are by Christ's 
resurrection united in one, our first day Sabbath. 

'Twas great to speak a world from naught, 
Twas greater to redeem. 

You can see by reading the nth chapter of Ro- 
mans that God was never without a people among the 



The Words of Faith. 291 

Jews in Paul's day, and that people constituted his true 
spiritual church. 

God hath not cast away His people. (Verse 2.) 

Even so then, at this present time also there is a 
remnant. (Verse 5.) 

If the root be holy, so are the branches, for if the 
first fruit be holy, the lump is also holy. (Verse 16.) 

Thou hearest not the root; but the root thee. 
(Verse 18.) 

But the unbelieving Jews were broken off from 
their olive tree, which means they were broken off from 
Christ, the living vine and chief corner stone of their 
church. (Verse 20.) 

God is able to graft them in again. (Verse 23.) 

How much more shall these which be the natural 
branches be grafted into their own olive tree. (Verse 
24.) 

If this does not prove that the true Christian 
church is not a new church, but a continuation of the 
old one, under a new administration, there is no sense 
in Paul's arguments. 

The glorious gospel of the blessed God commit- 
ted to Paul, and communicated to the world by the in- 
strumentality of the church, evolves a pure heavenly 
light, and it should not be prevented from diffusing 
abroad that light, in its untarnished, original purity, 
by the isms and opinions of men in connection with 
the church. 

God made the place of His feet glorious. (Exo- 
dus, 24:10. Also Isaiah, 60:11-14.) And His feet 
shall stand, etc., etc., meaning Zion (the church). 
(Zachariah, 14:4). Therefore everything that would 



292 The Words of Faith. 

defile the purity of the church must be removed to en- 
able it to accomplish its full mission in the world, by 
subjugating all the kingdoms of darkness. The church 
must be glorious in Holiness. Bigotry and prejudice 
must be expelled from it by brotherly love and Chris- 
itan charity. There must be no whisperers or back- 
biters in the church. Under the benign influence of a 
powerful influx of Heavenly light, illuminating the 
church, the grace of Faith in Christians will be won- 
derfully invigorated, and the demon of Doubt driven 
to his own native fastnesses, outside the church. 
Christians will have no inclination then to appropriate 
to themselves the glory of belonging to Christ. Spir- 
itual pride will surrender its place to childlike humility. 

In this happy time Satan shall have his power to 
tempt Christians very much curtailed. Then shall the 
light of the church shine out, in all its purity, and 
grandeur as the reflected light of the Son of Righteous- 
ness, and as the city of God, set upon Mount Zion. 
But how can this change be wrought in the church. 
In the first Book of Kings, the 19th chapter, the nth 
and 1 2th verses, we find the Tornado, the Earthquake 
and the Fire, all preceded the small still voice of God. 
In these chariots He rides in terrible majesty, at the 
sight of which the nations tremble and the opposing 
mountains of Heathen superstition and opposition melt 
and disappear. These things are some of the clouds 
and darkness that are round about him, and they indi- 
cate His near approach. 

They are the Dust of his feet that the Prophet 
Nahum, in the first chapter of Nahum, the 3rd verse, 
speaks of. 



The Words of Faith. 293 

These things conceal from human observation 
the hand of Deity moulding and shaping events, 
overruling them with infinite skill and power and 
directing them with infallible wisdom to the suc- 
cessful accomplishment of His own sovereign will, 
namely, the purification and the glorification of His 
church. In addition to all these storms, which in- 
clude political storms, and changes, civil commo- 
tion and war, as well as plagues, pestilences and 
famine, etc., also atmospheric and electrical disturb- 
ances, that affect the world at large, as well as the 
church. There will be a special shaking up of the 
<iry bones in the church itself. 

Hypocrisy will no longer be able to palm itself 
off for genuine Christian piety, if I mistake not. 
God will restore unto the church some of the spe- 
cial gifts of His spirit that were granted unto some 
of the early Christians in the apostolic age. At 
least, that gift of the power to discern spirits, which 
appears to me to be well calculated to greatly facili- 
tate the purification of the church, and I am not 
without scriptural foundation for my faith in this 
particular. Of course, its tendency would be to 
expose hypocrisy. Now read (carefully) the 3rd 
chapter of the book of Malachi, paying particular 
attention to the first six verses, and remember that 
this prophecy which related first to the first com- 
ing of Christ comprehends more than this, and ex- 
tends through the ages to the second coming of 
Christ, at which time I believe the Christian mar- 
tyrs will be raised to live and reign with Christ in 
His spiritual kingdom on the earth for one thousand 



294 The Words of Faith. 

years, and this will constitute the Millennium. This 
period will terminate some time before the general 
resurrection of the dead. 

It is very evident that some parts of this pho- 
phecy will be as literally fulfilled in our Lord's second 
coming as they were in His first coming. And He 
shall suddenly come, (ist Verse.) This is in perfect 
accordance with our Lord's teaching. 

But who may abide the day of his coming, etc., 
etc. (2nd Verse.) 

Now read the 5th verse, and say if you do not 
think this language clearly indicates the scrutinizing 
glance of the Saviour's eye, searching the hearts and 
trying the veins of professors in his church. 

Now read the 16th and two following verses of 
this chapter, and is not the 16th a good foundation 
for class meetings in the church, as observed among 
the Methodists ? And I suppose other denominations, 
but if so, this prophecy includes in its scope the pres- 
ent age. The sole object of these meetings is, or 
should be, to help each other on in the good way of 
life. Christians that love and fear God speak often 
one to another about good things in these meetings. 

But if this means of grace is neglected, what 
right have we to expect the great blessing promised in 
the 17th verse. I think the last verse supports the pos- 
ition I have taken respecting Discerning of Spirits. 
Mark the words (return) and discern between the 
righteous, and the wicked, etc., etc. From the word 
return, I think there is a reference to the gift of dis- 
cerning spirits conferred upon Christians in the Apos- 
tolic age, but for some unknown reason suspended. 



The Words of Faith. 295 

Our Lord shall suddenly come into his church, 
when it is purified and prepared to receive Him. But 
of the day and hour of His coming, knoweth no man. 

Observe, reader, the pillar of fire suspended 
over the tabernacle in. the wilderness was symbol- 
ical of the latter day glories of the church. There- 
fore, I believe there will be an ocular demonstration 
of the presence of Christ similar to the Shechinah, 
perpetually suspended over every place devoted to 
the true and acceptable worship of God in the Chris- 
tian Church universal, especially during time of di- 
vine worship. It will not be difficult therefore in 
the Millennium to discern between true and spir- 
itual Christianity. 

Furthermore, if we compare the prophetic and 
highly figurative writings of the prophet Zechariah 
in the 14th chapter of that book with the 10th, the 
nth and the 12th verses of the 1st chapter of Acts, 
we shall see that the words of the prophet refer in 
part to the second coming of Christ and agree with 
the words of the angels. (See the 4th verse of the 
14th of Zechariah, also Acts 1st and 9th, 10th and 
nth verses.) 

In this chapter of the book of Zechariah we 
have the troubles in the church preceding Christ's 
first coming and in the world after that event, pre- 
ceding our Lord's second advent. In reference to 
church troubles before Christ came, see the two last 
verses of 13th chapter, and I believe this is figura- 
tive of the state of the church immediately pre- 
ceding the Millennium. Also note the 4th verse of 
this chapter and remember Christ ascended from 



296 The Words of Faith. 

the mount called Olivet. And He shall so come 
in like manner as ye have seen Him go. 

This is angelic testimony. Then shall the Lord 
go forth and fight against those nations. (To make 
way for the progress of his church.) And His feet 
shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives. 

This is phophetic testimony. It is highly figura- 
tive, but I think the division of the mountain fore- 
shadows terrible commotions in the Visible church. 
It is evident this prophecy can not be confined evclu- 
sively to the first coming of Christ, neither can it refer 
to His coming at -the general judgment, because of 
events subsequent to His coming. It must refer, there- 
fore, to his second coming at the commencement of the 
Millennium. I regard that part of the prophecy be- 
ginning at the last part of verse 5, unto the end of the 
chapter, as a dark, but evidently figurative prophecy, 
in which Jerusalem is used metiphorically to represent 
the state of the church in the latters days. In the 12th 
verse some of the plagues are predicted with which 
God will visit those nations which persist in rejecting 
the Gospel when urged by the church to accept it, and 
by these terrible judgments will God utterly consume 
them, leaving the whole earth to the occupancy of His 
purified church. Christ will be universal king over all 
the earth, For the earth shall be filled with the knowl- 
edge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the 
sea. (Habakkuk, the 2nd chapter and 14th verse. Al- 
so the 9th verse of the nth chapter of Isaiah. 

"And the Lord my God shall come; and all the 
saints with thee." The last part of the 5th verse in 
the 14th chapter of Zechariah. 



The Words of Faith. 297 

Does not this prophecy relate to the second com- 
ing of Christ, when he will come accompanied by all 
his great army of martyrs, reunited to their spiritu- 
alized bodies, to reign with our Lord in His spir- 
itualized church on earth, as the ministers of His 
government? And if so, what a glorious time the 
Millennium will be! 

Now if we turn to the nth chapter of Isaih, 
and read it carefully we can learn much about it ; 
but it cannot come in this generation, for the Jews 
have to be gathered into the church and received 
into it by baptism. (See Ezekiel, 36th chapter, 25th 
verse.) 

"Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and 
ye shall be clean/' etc. The pow r er of Turkey also has 
to be utterly destroyed in the storms that will precede 
this happy time. 

"The Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the 
Egyptian sea." (Verse 15.) But like Daniel, we 
will w r ait in our lots, and see the salvation of God. 
Amen. 

December, 1898. 



298 The Words of Faith. 



SKEPTICISM AND CREDULITY. 



Showing How the Former Led to Its Opposite Ex- 
treme, Credulity, and How These Two Ex- 
tremes Generated Superstition and Idolatry, 
Enveloping the Greater Part of the World in 
the Darkness of Ignorance and Leading to All 
Kinds of Sin and Misery, the Whole Having Its 
Origin in Doubt of the Verity of God's Word. 
I do not know that I can say much more than 
I have already said in some of my former writings 
on this subject, but I will do the best I can, trust- 
ing in God for light and instruction from His Spirit 
as I need it. In doing so I will select two words 
as a foundation whereupon to base my remarks, 
and I think they will furnish ample material to 
prove the wisdom of St. Paul's admonition, "Let 
your moderation be known to all men." 

The two words I refer to are Skepticism and 
Credulity. This subject is so broad and compre- 
hensive as to render it impossible for me to present 
it in all its multifarious aspects. I shall therefore 
confine my meditations to their effect on faith and 
practice in matters relating to revealed religion. 
The first word means doubt, the second means easy 
of belief. 

The captain of a ship some times experiences 
great difficulty in steering his craft through a nar- 
row strait of the sea so as to avoid the rocks above 



The Words of Faith. 299 

and beneath the surface of the water and the sand 
bars, which in some cases are more to be dreaded 
than the visible rocks, any one of which might 
bring ruin and death on the ship and the crew if 
it came in contact with them. In this case the sea 
captain furnishes us with a figurative illustration 
of our own condition. Frequently in our journey 
through life we sometimes get into straitened cir- 
cumstances. In these cases we should endeavor 
to avoid undue. excitement, to be prudent and not 
give way to immoderate grief and rush into in- 
evitable ruin. But in matters relating to our Chris- 
tian faith we sometimes have to steer our bark 
through spiritual straits, or narrows, as they are 
frequently called, which are bounded on either side 
by rocks and sandbars that threaten instant de- 
struction. We seem to have drifted into these 
straits not always through any fault of our own, 
apparently by chance, but in reality it is the work 
of the enemy of God and man to drift us between 
the rocks of Skepticism and Credulity, the Devil 
being determined if possible either to undermine 
the Christian's faith or to make him believe a lie. 
And, oh, what awful storms he raises on the sea of 
life, and the poor Christian realizes the depressing 
effect of these storms both outside himself and 
within himself. Now, every person who has passed 
the period of accountability in the sight of God is 
pretty sure to have to pass through these dangerous 
straits in his journey through life, especially if the 
journey be a long one. Then is the time 
when we need the unerring hand of Deity in our 



300 The Words of Faith. 

blessed Redeemer to guide us through the raging 
billows of Temptation and Despair. These things 
sometimes overtake us in our domestic affairs. 
Sometimes in the scientific world we hear of 
discoveries to us altogether inexplicable and be- 
yond our comprehension, notwithstanding we have 
either to reject them or to embrace them in our own 
minds. In the former case we will soon forget all 
about the great discovery, except it turns out to 
be a matter of fact and flashes back the light of 
truth upon us with irresistible force. But in either 
case we have an illustration of the extremes of Skep- 
ticism and Credulity. Now, as these relate to our 
Christian experience, Skepticism and Credulity are 
the two rocks between which we often have to steer 
our faith, and we are in great danger of making 
shipwrecks of it. In respect of prudence, it is al- 
ways commendable, but there is a point where pru- 
dence ends. This is the danger point, and the dan- 
ger is of smashing our faith against the extreme of 
Skepticism, or Infidelity, and Credulity, and em- 
bracing (in our faith) a ruinous lie. Prudence says 
believe not every spirit, but try the spirits, whether 
they be of God or not. Some persons are naturally 
of a doubting disposition. Such persons are slow 
to embrace any new development in science or re- 
ligion. These people are in no danger of believing 
a lie, but in great danger of becoming infidels. The 
skeptic may be considered an extremist if his ec- 
centricities in the line of Skepticism really merit 
that appellation, but a prudent degree of caution 



The Words of Faith. 301 

is not only commendable but necessary to insure 
safety. 

Do not venture far from Mediocrity if you wish 
to steer safely between these two extremes. Re- 
member St. Paul's admonition : "Let your modera- 
tion be known to all men." If you do not heed this 
warning voice you are in danger of making ship- 
wreck of your faith. Then you sink into the Sa- 
tanic slumber of self-sufficiency, and dream that 
you will never believe anything which you cannot 
comprehend, and consequently you reject all re- 
vealed and experimental religion, inclusive of the 
great works of creation and redemption, as de- 
scribed in Revelation. Now there are a thousand 
things in Nature which no man can comprehend, 
but we are bound to admit their existence. Do you 
not perceive the inconsistency as well as the ruin- 
ing nature of such extreme Skepticism as would 
lead a man to renounce or reject all faith in a God, 
a place of rewards and punishments? Let persons 
of this class remember this one thing, that their 
lack of faith will make no difference to their experi- 
ence in the reality of a future state of rewards and 
punishment. These places do exist and the wicked 
will, in spite of all their boasting, be turned into 
Hell. But there are some people who appear to 
settle down with the idea deeply impressed upon 
the mind that they are at liberty to embrace that 
part of the Bible which accords with their views 
and wishes and to reject the rest. Such persons 
as these remind me very forcibly of a small quad- 
ruped that burrows in the ground and if you watch 



302 The Words of Faith. 

him at work you will every once in a while see his 
nose protruding through the mound which he is 
making and with a sudden jerk of the head he 
empties his pockets of mould which he had taken 
from his burrow in order to give him a pathway 
beneath the surface. Now, persons of the class be- 
fore described very strongly object to the existence 
of a personal Devil, the Prince of the Power of the 
Air, the spirit that worketh in the children of dis- 
obedience. By making them believe he has no ex- 
istence he works all the easier on them. Therefore 
they exclude the Devil and his native home, Hell, 
from the catalogue of the articles of their faith 
to make their mental career in religious matters 
through the present life free from these, to them, 
objectionable obstructions. 

But the other extreme of Credulity is equally 
dangerous if not guarded by Prudence and Medi- 
ocrity. Persons of this class are so easily persuaded 
to believe anything and everything they hear that 
they require no proof of the validity or truth of 
the intelligence before they swallow the most ex- 
travagant stories as self-evident matters of fact. 
Such persons as these are easily persuaded by Satan 
to believe a lie. 

In persons where there is an inherent tendency 
toward Credulity it may exist independently of 
ignorance, but >as a rule the two are closely related 
to each other, and they are sure to become asso- 
ciated with Superstition, and these three with a 
fourth by the name of Idolatry. And then the four, 
under the leadership of Prince Skepticism, organ- 



The Words of Faith. 303 

ize themselves into a select committee on ways and 
means, having special privileges and a diabolical 
work assigned them. Their privilege is to darken 
the mind with regard to divine light and truth. 
This they accomplish by blinding the spiritual eye 
with the smoke of the horrible pit or False Doc- 
trine. Their work is (when they have rendered 
them blind or hors de combat by these means) to 
take them prisoners, chained to the chariot of his 
satanic majesty, the Devil, to be safely deposited 
in his native kingdom of Darkness and Despair, as 
trophies of their faithfulness in his service and suc- 
cess. These are the adversaries with which Chris- 
tianity has had to contend for nearly 1900 years, 
and how far it has been successful in restraining 
these unhallowed influences or vanquishing this 
terrific foe I will leave the kind reader to judge. A 
glorious work has been done, but there is much 
more to do before all the dark places of this w r orld 
will be restored to their rightful owner, our sov- 
ereign Lord and Master. This warfare must con- 
tinue until the banner of glorious peace swings out 
from the battlements of Heaven and floats in the 
breeze of all nations, and true Heaven-born Chris- 
tianity bears off the palm of victory. 

Christians, put on the whole armor of God. 
You will need it all in this warfare, both offensive 
and defensive; you will need it all, "for we w r restle 
not against flesh and blood, but against principali- 
ties and powers (in particular) against spiritual 
wickedness in high places. " See 6th of Ephesians, 
nth and 12th verses. These evil powers or spiritual 



304 The Words of Faith. 

influences have been at work in the world ever since 
man accepted Skepticism or Doubt from the hand 
of the great deceiver in the Garden of Eden in 
exchange for his faith in God, which was only a 
part of the price that he paid for it. We soon see 
the awful effect of Skepticism manifested in the 
murder of Abel and in making a murderer of the 
first man ever born into the world. 

The highest place that it was possible for spir- 
itual wickedness to exist in this world of humanity 
was at the fountainhead of the human family, and 
it existed there in the form of Skepticism. There- 
fore it appears quite right that this prince of un- 
clean spirits should occupy the station assigned to 
it in the word of God, which is that of the damning 
sin. 

Hear the words of Jesus Christ: "He that be- 
lieveth not (the good news of salvation by grace 
through faith) shall be damned." The awful effect 
of this terrible sin is beyond all conception, and it 
is easy to see that this extreme led to the opposite 
extreme of Credulity and brought on Superstition 
and Idolatry, which enveloped the world in dark- 
ness or Ignorance. For 4,000 years these evil agents 
were busily engaged exerting evil influences in the 
Gentile nations of the world who were without any 
revealed light from the heavenly world to enable 
them to resist their insidious attacks. Is it there- 
fore any wonder that we find these nations in their 
present condition to-day? Particularly when we 
remember that the Jews with all their advantages 
were almost wholly given to Idolatry at times. Nor 



The Words of Faith. 305 

did these diabolical or unclean spirits cease to ex- 
ist and exert their demoralizing and debasing in- 
fluences on mankind with the coming of Christ. 
We can easily see, even in our own country, both 
in the world and in the church, their terrible effects. 
It is true education and a more refined civilization, 
encouraged by a liberal Christian government, have 
a tendency to ameliorate these evil effects, so that 
they present a less diabolical and more refined as- 
pect, but their nature is the same, and their final 
issue will be true to that nature. 

Let us not suppose that we citizens of the 
United States of America are exempt from all of 
these charges. For instance, we may think we have 
too much good sense to be found worshiping idols 
made with hands. Of course, I do not include our 
money and property in this last remark, for thou- 
sands think more of their money than they do of 
their God. But I mean they do not sing its praises 
and worship it as the heathen do their idols. But 
there are those in this enlightened land who make 
every effort to converse with demons (for we can- 
not suppose all the spirits of the dead called up 
are saints). Do we not recognize in this fact the 
heinous sin of withcraft? That is to say, if disem- 
bodied spirits are in reality called up. I refer to 
spiritualism as it exists among us. And I venture 
to make the assertion that if this work is real, it 
is satanic in its origin ; and if it is deception, it has 
its origin in the great deceiver, and the dupes who 
believe in it will receive the deceiver's reward. These 
people present us with a peculiar type of humanity 



306 The Words of Faith. 

whose credence has no limit, but is capable of em- 
bracing the most absurd monstrosities. They ap- 
pear to be drawn by the force of mutual affinity 
to witness the exploits of some celebrated medium 
between man and demons in order, as they suppose, 
to peep into secrets that God has wisely concealed 
from man. "Whatsoever maketh manifest is light." 
But this light, emanating from beneath, becomes 
darkness in them that believe it, even the darkness 
of a deceptive light, and "how great is that dark- 
ness." 

Brethren, let us walk as the children of true 
light which cometh down from our Father in 
Heaven. (Eph. 5:8; also 1st epistle of John, 1:5.) 
Therefore, let us have our conversation in Heaven, 
through the medium of God's own word and Spirit. 

We have no desire to converse with demons 
or any other disembodied spirits by means of mor- 
tal mediums skilled in the art of witchcraft. Our 
most cherished desire is to live in Christ by a divine 
faith in the true light and life-giving word. Then 
we shall not lack any light or knowledge essential 
to our welfare, and more than this might endanger 
our safety. 

But these evil agencies are at work in the 
church, as well as in the world, producing Heresy 
and Schism and, either directly or indirectly, all 
other evils with which the church is afflicted. To 
begin with the oldest branch of the church in 
existence, except perhaps the Armenian, we speak 
of the Catholic Church, which in some respects may 
be considered a sort of twin sister to the Greek 



The Words of Faith, 307 

Church. We shall, however, treat her as a unit in 
respect to Idolatry. This church perhaps makes 
more pretentions to perfection and infallibility than 
all other branches of the Christian Church com- 
bined. Notwithstanding these pretentions, embrac- 
ing as they do, the most emphatic declaration of 
hostility to Heresy and Schism, it is obvious to all 
•candid observers who are not blinded by bigotry 
or prejudice that she fosters and encourages Heresy 
in respect to the nature of saving faith by her rigid 
control of men's consciences, and by chaining the 
faith of her people to her pernicious doctrines for ava- 
ricious purposes. Just think of the doctrine of the 
confessional, and then payment to a priest for abso- 
lution. Think of the doctrine of Purgatory, and the 
millions paid into the church, which goes to her 
priests for their worthless services in connection with 
this doctrine, and then pity the credulity of the people 
entangled in the meshes of their net. 

They have a sort of faith, which is productive of 
works; but their faith is spurious, being cut off from 
the atonement by intercepting officials; and all works 
springing from a spurious faith are sinful in the sight 
-of God. 

Observe also, that the chief foundation whereupon 
they erect the fabric of their hope is their works of con- 
formity with the ecclesiastical law of the church, and 
the intercession of the Virgin Mary, who, blessed as 
she is, is nevertheless a creature. These things are 
the foundation of their hope, more than the atoning 
blood of the Son of God. 

But "other foundation can no man lay than that 



308 The Wokds of Faith. 

which is laid." Jesus Christ. It is evident that the 
chief reason why this church has succeeded so well in 
propogating her doctrines in the world is this : In her 
early history she sought and secured the worldly ag- 
grandizements of wealth and influence, which enabled 
her to secure the support of the states in which she 
existed as the queen of churches. These prerequisites 
obtained, she proceeded to produce a version of the 
Holy Scripture to suit her own peculiar views. And 
the schism so exceedingly objectionable to her is pro- 
testing against the corrupt doctrines and teachings of 
her church. Nevertheless, this kind of schism or 
Protestantism, is necessary to enable a soul to form 
a compact union with Christ's atoning blood. Again, 
look at her pictures, crucifixes and images, which she 
esteems so highly and places so much confidence in. 

Then look into the law of God, in relation to these 
matters and see if she is not guilty of heresy and 
schism in respect to this Holy Law. And above all, 
guilty of arrogant idolatry, both in her precepts, teach- 
ings and practice. 

The dark ages will never be forgotten, but what 
made these dark ages so dark in the Christian world 
Answer : It was the absence of true light in this great 
church, which at that time exerted a preponderating 
influence over the European nations. This spiritual 
darkness was rendered more obvious by the lurid light 
which evolved from the blaze of burning fagots that 
consumed the bodies of true Christian martyrs, who 
were burned at the stake for the alleged sin of heresy, 
but in reality for their fidelity to our blessed Redeemer. 

But listen to the confusion and noise in this "hor- 



The Words of Faith. 309 

Tible pit" of darkness. What does it all mean? An- 
swer : It is the terrific howlings superinduced by the 
galling chains of the inquisition. It is the confused 
noise and clatter occasioned by the busy priests preach- 
ing indulgences and granting papal licenses to com- 
mit sin unto those persons who were willing to furnish 
money to pay for them, in order to raise funds to build 
the church of St. Peter in Rome. 

The foregoing description of the works proceed- 
ing from a spurious faith, when that faith runs into 
the extremes of credulity, applies to the Roman Cath- 
olic church. 

But the Protestant churches are by no means ex- 
empt from the ravages of these mischievous evil spir- 
its, for they also are subject to the Tike extremes of 
skepticism and credulity. There are those among 
them who believe too much and those who believe too 
little. 

Just look at the Mormons as a specimen of the 
first class, who believe too much. What an immense 
amount of useless rubbish they take into the capacious 
maw of their faith — all the foolishness of the book of 
Mormon. 

It appears to me that Joe Smith and Brigham 
Young were modern offshoots of the false prophet 
Mohammed, and the only reason why the tendency 
of the latter delusion has not been so effective as the 
first is because it has been checked by the light of 
Christianity. 

But there are also churches of more modern ori- 
gin who believe too little. These people find things 
in the Bible to which they object. They, therefore, 



310 The Words of Faith. 

determine to rid themselves of these (to them) objec- 
tionable features of God's holy word by ejecting them 
from their faith. 

They find the Bible teaches the existence of a per- 
sonal devil and actual hell — the place prepared by God 
originally for devils, not for men. But if man prefers 
to live a life of sin, knowing what the inevitable result 
of legal punishment for sin is, and persists in his 
course of iniquity until death overtakes him, he fixes 
his own doom. 

God does not do it, for he willeth not the death 
of any sinner. 

The Bible also teaches that when man became 
a living soul in his creation that soul proceeded directly 
from God and partook of his nature, who liveth for- 
ever. Therefore, that eternal death which the human 
soul is capable of never ends ; otherwise it can not be 
eternal, for it would have an end. 

None of these doctrines of our Holy Bible con- 
tribute to the comfort of these people in their pathways 
through life, therefore, they, like the little animal al- 
luded to before, determine to eject them from their 
defective faith, to make their pathway through life 
easier by quieting their conscience. These last re- 
marks apply to the Universalists, and the Adventists;: 
these last running into both extremes. 

This is not only an argument to support a theory, 
but an exhibition of the facts by which that theory is. 
sustained — facts that have transpired and are incor- 
porated in history ; and facts in course of transpiration 
still existing around us. 

Wherefore, brethren, partakers of the heavenly 



The Words of Faith. 311 

calling, seeing we also are pilgrims through this land 
of strife and war, let us hold fast the beginning of our 
confidence in the captain of our salvation, firm unto the 
end. Let us put on the whole armor of God and fight 
as good soldiers, true as steel, in this grand contest be- 
tween the two powers of darkness and light. And 
Christ will eventually crown all our efforts with com- 
plete success by giving us a glorious victory over all 
our foes, inclusive of death itself. Amen and Amen. 
February 10, 1900. 



Stray Thoughts on the nth and 12th Verses of the 

Second Chapter of Colossians. 
(The writings in this book embrace a variety of sub- 
jects, which, although not new, are dealt with in 
an original manner by the writer, and any person 
who will read them will not fail to find some in- 
teresting facts that will be entirely new to him; 
facts relating to the writer's personal experience 
in matters relating to this life, as well as the life 
to come ; also some poetical effusions that may or 
many not interest the reader. The five last pages 
are of this character, the writer having set apart 
about two hours of each day, during which time 
he composed and wrote the five last specimens of 
his poetry ; and these are at present his last writ- 
ings.) 

"In whom also ye are circumcised with the cir- 
cumcision made without hands, in putting off the body 
of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ. " 
Christ, who is become Immanuel, blended His own 



312 The Words of Faith. 

proper deity with our humanity in the womb of the 
Virgin Mary, who was a descendant of Abraham and 
legal heirs to God's promise in Him. 

This was the greatest honor God could confer 
upon any family, and the Virgin Mary was selected by 
God to become the mother of the Son of God, and 
that divine personage being a Jew, or rather an Is- 
raelite, was under the law r of circumcision, which 
. was honored by his submission to that ceremonial 
ordinance (the rite of circumcision on the eighth 
day), for in this as in every other way he fulfilled 
the law.' 7 — St. Paul. 

"Ye are complete in him in whom dwelleth all the 
fullness of the God Head bodily, in whom also ye are 
circumcised by a complete separation from all sins of 
the past, signified by the body of the sins of the flesh. 
And all this chief of all mercies, in virtue of your un- 
ion with Christ, who has been circumcised and who 
communicates to all the members of his true church, 
or body, the virtues of his conformity to the law of cir- 
cumcision, without experiencing the painful operation 
connected with that rite. Therefore, the Christian is 
complete in Christ, because he receives from Him this 
great blessing of a permanent separation from sin, 
which was the thing figured by removing the foreskin 
of the Hebrew male. But, remember, this is the only 
possible way of effecting a separation from our sin, 
namely to get into Christ by living faith, and keep in 
Him, for in Him alone we have eternal life. 

Now, observe how intimately St. Paul connects 
the rite of circumcision, under the law, with the ordi- 
nance of baptism under the Gospel dispensation. For 



The Words of Faith. 313 

both of these ordinances are the divinely appointed 
means of ingress into the visible church in both dis- 
' pensations, but we do not understand that all who get 
into the church by the door, either of circumcision or 
baptism, must inevitably be saved from final condemna- 
tion as a necessary consequence, for then would we be 
subject to ordinances which Paul insinuates we ought 
not to be. 

In writing on this subject I am aware that I am 
venturing on disputed territory, but I will do so cau- 
tiously, so as if possible to avoid disturbing the har- 
mony in the music of the church, by wounding the 
feelings of any of its members, for I know there are 
good Christians in all the healthy branches of the 
church, just as there are good apples on all the 
healthy branches of a tree. 

But those specimens that get a full share of sun- 
shine, and enjoy a free current of pure air, with an 
adequate supply of water to cool and cleanse them, 
are the most beautiful. Just so with Christians. Those 
who live nearest to Christ are most under the guidance 
of His Spirit (the Holy Ghost) are the most beautiful 
in the sight of God and man. Their lives shine with a 
growing luster in the Christian race corse. 

Second. "Buried with him in baptism." Paul 
continues his argument, but drops circumcision and 
takes up baptism to further illustrate the condition of 
those who are in Christ Jesus. Now, if he means 
water baptism as instituted by our Lord as the means 
of ingress into the visible church, there is an allusion 
to the mode (by immersion), but if he means the bap- 
tism of the Holy Ghost, which alone can slay the car- 



314 The Words of Faith. 

nal nature in man, and blot out his sins, nailing them to 
the cross of Christ, then it has nothing to do with 
, water, or immersion in it, water baptism being only a 
figure of this cleansing work of the Holy Ghost in con- 
nection with the precious blood of Christ which He 
alone can use for this purpose. Water baptism repre- 
sents the washing of the soul from sin, circumcision 
the cutting away of sin from the soul. And this Holy 
Ghost baptism may be further explained by Romans, 
the 6th chapter and 3d, 4th and 5th verses. From 
these last passages of Scripture it is quite clear to my 
mind that the word baptism in the text includes both 
water baptism and Holy Ghost baptism, for both cir- 
cumcision and baptism were figures, pictures or shad- 
ows of the real fact of the great spiritual work of sep- 
arating the sinner from his sins, which is accomplished 
in Holy Ghost baptism. Now, we know that the pic- 
ture or shadow of a thing is not the thing itself. But 
the picture is all that is contained in the ordinance. 
Hence, St. Paul says in verse 20 : "If ye be dead with 
Christ, etc. Why, as though living in the world are 
ye subject to ordinances. In other words, if ye have 
the real substance, why contend about the shadow, for 
if ye are in Christ through the faith of the operation 
of God (the Holy Ghost), (Colossians, 2 and 12), these 
shadows have served their purpose in your case by 
bringing you into union with Christ under the life- 
giving influences of the Holy Ghost. 

Christ says, "No man can come unto me except 
my Father draw him." Again notice in third verse of 
this last text in Romans. All true Christians are bap- 
tized into the death of Christ. This is real. There is 



The Words of Faith. 315 

no shadow, likeness or picture here. It is His real 
death. And "if Christ died for all, then were all 
dead." That is, their carnal nature. In fact, it must 
needs be dead before the divine nature can be quick- 
ened into life. The two natures cannot exist in union 
with each other. And the carnal nature cannot in- 
herit the kingdom of God ; but Christ takes the hand- 
writing of ordinances out of our way, nailing it to 
His Cross, for He alone can repeal His own law. This, 
however, refers only to the law of ordinances, and not 
to the moral code. In the fifth verse there is a refer- 
ence to the ordinance of baptism, the mode of baptiz- 
ing by immersion, and also a reference to the natural 
death and burial of the Christian (indirectly), and to 
his resurrection. Paul, however, lays no stress on the 
ordinance or mode of applying it or the age of the re- 
cipient, but in the sixth and seventh verses he at- 
taches all importance to the death of the old man (or 
carnal nature), and to our freedom from sin as a nec- 
essary consequence. Christ was baptized with death 
for us, to save us from spiritual death and its terrible 
consequences, and if we are planted in His death by 
the Holy Ghost we are saved. 

I am aware that this is a very deep subject, and I 
am also aware that a vast majority of professors and 
non-professors underestimate its depth and impor- 
tance. 

Now, my dear friends, do please remember that 
all this great and blessed work which is so indispensi- 
bly necessary for your present and eternal welfare, 
namely the death of the old Adam in you, and the life 
of Christ in your soul, is effected by the circumcision 



316 The Words of Faith. 

made without hands, or the baptism of the Holy Ghost 
This is the pearl of great price, and it is just like any 
other pearl in one respect, namely, they who undertake 
to improve it ruin it. By grace are ye saved through 
the faith that is of the operation of God. "Then why 
are ye subject to ordinances ?" Verse 20. 

I do not understand by Paul's language that we 
are not to submit to the ordinances of the church, when 
they are consistent with God's holy word, but that we 
are not to abuse or misuse them by trusting in them, 
where we ought to trust only in Christ. In other 
words, God can save us without ordinances, but not 
without Jesus Christ, and he will do so, if we have 
saving faith in Him. In fact, He saves all who die in 
their infancy, before they become accountable in His 
sight, being virtually without law, for "As in Adam all 
die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." Every 
human being has either passed through a period of jus- 
tification or he is passing through it. 

PART SECOND. 

The former treatise realtes to the believer, but 
these remarks are intended for the sinner. 

It was an earnest desire to contribute the mite of 
my feeble effort towards the advancement of God's 
glory in His church by writing what I have written on 
the subject of circumcision and baptism for the mem- 
bers of that church, hoping in this way to aid some of 
them who may chance to read it, in attaining the ob- 
ject for which our Redeemer prayed, namely, that they 
might be one, even as He and His Father are one. 
Christ would not have prayed for unity of spirit in 



The Words of Faith. 317 

His church if He had not seen that sectarianism would 
be detrimental to its welfare. But it is also of the 
greatest importance to be quite sure that we are right 
in our first step in the Christian race course, that we 
enter it at the door. If we fail here, all our efforts 
will be in vain; but if we enter by the door, into the 
sheep fold, we shall find food for our souls. Christ 
said : "I am the door ; by me, if any man enter in, he 
shall be saved." John, the ioth chapter, and 9th 
verse. 

But some person may say, if we admit what you 
have written on this subject to be the truth in Christ 
Jesus, attested by the seal and signature of the Holy 
Ghost, what is the use of my striving to get into the 
kingdom of heaven, since none can by any possible 
means get there except drawn by the Spirit of God, 
to take this first step of faith in Christ, begetting in 
the soul of the sin-sick sinner, love to and child-like 
trust in Christ. It may be this person is led to ex- 
claim with one of old, "What must I do to be saved?" 
or, "God be merciful to me, a sinner :" My answer 
to all this is as follows: 

The fact that none can come to Christ except 
God the Father draw them is so far from being calcu- 
lated to cause despair in the heart of the sinner that 
it reveals unto him his utter inability to save himself, 
and leads him to abandon all hope outside the true 
door of the sheep fold (Christ Jesus). And the fact 
that none can come unto Him except drawn by the 
Spirit, proves that all who are so drawn can come if 
they will ; but it does not prove that any are impelled 
toward Christ by the irresistible influences of that 



318 The Words of Faith. 

spirit, for Christ said, "Ye will not. come unto me that 
ye might have life." 

But that every human being who is old enough 
to be accountable in the sight of God experiences a 
manifestation of this spirit is proved by the seventh 
verse of the 12th chapter of the first of Corinthians. 
In this condition the sinner can pray without sinning, 
for the first work of the spirit is to show the individual 
that he or she is a sinner and that as such are spiritu- 
ally dead. There is nothing to expect or hope for in 
his present condition, but the wages of sin, which is 
eternal death. Therefore, if the inquiry, what to do 
to be saved, is made under the spirit's influence, he 
will be likely to cry out in some such language as this : 
"God be merciful to me, a sinner." Scriptures are too 
numerous to quote, which prove the importunate cry 
of the sin-sick soul cannot be disregarded by God, for 
Jesus pleads for the sinner, and His siprit makes in- 
tercession for him with groanings that cannot be ut- 
tered. Think of this. Seek the Lord while He may 
be found. Let the wicked forsake his way and the 
unrighteous man his thoughts. And let him return 
unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; 
and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon." Isa- 
iah, 55th chapter, 6th and 7th verses. 

But if the inquiry, What can I do, etc., proceed 
from the heart, while under influences of the spirit 
that worketh in the children of disobedience, God sees 
that it is not an honest inquiry, and he leaves the sin- 
ner to his own conclusions, which are in this style: 
If God has elected me, I shall be all right anyhow ; if 
He has not, what can I do but wait contentedly as I 



The Words of Faith. 319 

am, without disturbing my mind about my condition, 
until His spirit comes to help me, if, indeed, it ever 
does come to help sinners ? Sinner, ask God earnestly 
to give you of His spirit. You can do this, and that 
is what the prophet means in the text just quoted. 

It seems to me that Paul taught very different 
things to these erroneous conclusions of the members 
of some orthodox churches, founded upon the 29th and 
30th verses of the 8th of Romans. "To them who are 
the called according to his purpose/' Now, it is the 
purpose of God that those whom he calls by His spirit 
should turn from sin to Christ for righteousness, and 
to those who do so, all things work together for good. 
Verse 28. Just here I observe, a good old lady once 
said to me : "Yes, we admit there is a measure of the 
spirit givn to all, but in some cases it is so small that 
it does no good." But this charges God with aggra- 
vating the sinner's guilt by giving him a measure of the 
spirit, but not enough to do him any good, thus aug- 
menting his punishment. 

God knows from eternity the choice of every in- 
dividual, when life and death are set before them, to 
select either one of the other for himself, at the same 
time giving to each a sufficient measure of His spirit 
to move him toward Christ, but leaving him entirely 
free to use or not to use it, and those who yield to this 
heavenly influence, God by His grace changes from 
spiritual death into spiritual life, from alienation from 
God into alliance with God, in Christ Jesus; from the 
character symbolized by the goat to the character sym- 
bolized by the sheep (verse 30). Those alone were 
predestined who answered the call ; Proverbs, 1st chap- 



320 The Words of Faith 

ter and from the 24th to the 27th verses, inclusive, 
which read: "And those alone can be justified and 
glorified as a necessary result of obedience to the 
heavenly calling." I remember having heard a 
preacher in the course of his sermon address his audi- 
ence in some such language as this: "Since the de- 
cree is immutable like God Himself, fixing the destiny 
of every human being, you may well say to me, what 
then is the good of your preaching to us ; if I am elect- 
ed to salvation I shall be saved ; but if not, you cannot 
help me and Christ will not? My friends, all our 
thanks for life and salvation are due to God alone. 
Therefore, let us glorify Him by waiting as we are 
until His time comes to save us, if He intends to do 
so. We preach to the sheep, not only to those with- 
in the fold, but' to the wild ones outside in the wil- 
derness, and we cannot tell them from the goats. 
We, therefore, draw the bow at a venture." 

Now, this man knew, or ought to have known, 
that it is the work of the Spirit which transforms the 
goat into the sheep, and that all are given a manifesta- 
tion of that Spirit. Now, there is no way for such 
men to get out of this trap, except it be through the 
hole by which the old lady attempted to escape, but 
failed. She said: "God gives a small measure of thq 
Spirit to some persons, but not enough to bring them 
to Christ," thereby charging God with the person's 
failure to get into Christ. From the 1st to the nth 
verses of the 9th chapter of Romans we have the key 
to Paul's meaning in that chapter, relating to God's 
right to select the family of Abraham and the tribe of 
Judah, to be the repository of His church in which the 



The Words of Faith. 321 

seed or promised Messiah should appear ; and to show 
that God makes examples of obstinate sinners some- 
times to deter others from the same course of folly. 
To the fact which is frequently urged to support the 
arguments of those who talk so much about the de- 
crees, namely, that the prayer of the wicked is sin, we 
reply, "Yes, when that prayer proceeds from his carnal 
mind, but not when it proceeds from the Holy Spirit's 
influence upon that mind/' Right here, the thought 
flashes across my mind that perhaps what I have been 
writing on this subject is not so well adapted to the 
necessities of the unregenerated part of mankind as 
those thoughts which have more of Christ in them 
(for He spake as never man spake), more of His love 
conveyed or expressed as much as possible in His own 
language. Think of it, oh, think of it, sinner, the 
very same kind-hearted, loving Redeemer who prayed 
for His murderers while they were nailing Him to 
the cross, in the language recorded by Luke in the 23d 
chapter and 34th verse, "Father, forgive them; for they 
know not what they do," is pleading His own righte- 
ousness for you, because you cannot furnish any right- 
eousness in the sight of God of your own. He also 
pleads His blood and death, which he shed and suf- 
fered for you. Think of this, oh, do think, and while 
you are thinking try to love Him and give yourself to 
Him ; try to pray unto Him ; ask him to help you in 
your weakness and sinfulness to come unto Him 
just as you are ; don't wait to make yourself better, 
for in His love to us sinners, He says: "Come unto 
me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I 
will give you rest," etc. 



322 The Words of Faith. 

Certainly, such love as this ought to melt our hard 
and sinful hearts, and cause the tear of repentance to 
flow. Christ prays the Father to send His spirit to 
help you to come unto Him, and God does answer His 
Son's prayer by sending His spirit to every one of you. 
But if you refuse to entertain Him, He will be a very 
transient guest. He may, perhaps, return again, and 
still again, but every time He returns His influences 
are weakened, because your heart grows harder. I 
well remember the first time I experienced His blessed 
influences. It is more than seventy years ago. I 
think I was about six years of age and was at the time 
spending the winter in the beautiful city of Bath, in 
England, at my step-grandfather, the Rev. Joseph Sut- 
cliffe, who was at that time stationed on the Bath cir- 
cuit. And, oh, how I cried. I felt that young as I 
was, I was a sinner in the sight of God. Of course, 
I knew that I had been baptized, but I felt in my heart 
there was something necessary besides baptism. But 
the person who put me to bed tried to quiet me by tell- 
ing me I had been a good boy, and I went to sleep and 
it passed away like the early dew. The blessed spirit 
returned many times after, as much as to say, "How 
shall I give thee up," but never afterward did he make 
such an impression on me as he did then. My heart 
was grown harder every time I resisted. But, thank 
God, after a while I yielded, and I trust that even now 
I write under His blessed influences. 

The wages of sin is death. The gift of God is 
eternal life. And you may not be favored with many 
more opportunities to make the choice between them. 
Do not listen to satan, oh, do not. He is your most 



The Words of Faith. 323 

fascinating, dangerous and deadly enemy, and he has 
many ways of diverting your thoughts from this all 
important subject. When the spirit prompts you to 
come to Jesus, come to Him by earnest prayer and cry 
to Him for the bread of life. Do not come in a cool, 
formal way, repeating a form of prayer. You can 
never get the blessing of salvation in this way. Plead 
God's promise to save you, your own sinfulness and 
need of salvation, and let your pleading amount to a 
piercing cry for the bread of life. Remember the im- 
portunate widow, don't give up the ship, but cast 
vour anchor within the vail. 



A key to unlock the sacred mysteries of Christ's 
teachings in the Gospels and in the Revelation of St. 
John, with regard to future changes and commotions 
in the kingdoms of nature and grace, may be found 
in the 28th and 29th verses of the 13th chapter of 
Mark (see the text), and may be used by any person 
who can secure the guidance of the divine spirit to 
solve the mysteries of God's word, as they relate to 
His dealings with us, His creatures, in this world of 
shadows. But always bearing in mind that the words, 
''this generation," contained in the 30th verse, which 
means the generation then living ( when the events 
foretold related exclusively to the destruction of Jeru- 
salem), means also the entire generation of the human 
family from that period in which Christ sqake until the 
end of man's probationary state, when these predictions 
relate to any matters of fact subsequent to the destruc- 



324 The Words of Faith 

tion of Jerusalem and the end of the Jewish nation, as 
it then existed. 

Let the last verse of this chapter have it's due in- 
fluence upon your mind. "What I say unto you, I say 
unto all, watch. What I say unto you (of this gen- 
eration), I say unto all (throughout all the generations 
of mankind), watch." What for? Answer: "The 
signs of the times/' which indicate the near approach 
of the Master, to call us to meet Him at 
Death, and to call His church to a scrut- 
inizing and sifting examination; and to call his oppo- 
nents everywhere to face His judgments, for the neg- 
lect of His gracious offers of mercy and salvation. Re- 
member, He who predicted these things holds all the 
forces and laws in the kingdoms of nature and grace 
completely under the control of His sovereign will. 

Christ taught the truth as it is recorded in the 
New Testament ; but that truth was so strange to His 
hearers, so high, and frequently so sublimely spiritual, 
as to be incomprehensible to them, notwithstanding 
the inimitable simplicity and beauty of the language 
which He uses, and the adaptation of the figures which 
he employs to convey this truth to their minds. Never- 
theless, the strange and wonderful predictions of our 
Divine Redeemer, as recorded in the Gospels, and in 
the Revelation, involve no absurdities, contradictions 
or impossibilities, for God cannot design that His 
creatures should believe absurdities or impossibili- 
ties, without being inconsistent with Himself, and 
this is absolutely impossible, for God cannot and 
will not deceive. 

Wicked men and demons may call Him a hard 



The Words of Faith. 325 

man, or master, reaping where He did not sow, etc., 
but it is a false accusation, which will be hurled back 
at them again with the most terrible effect, and when- 
ever we attempt to explain any of His predictions in 
such a way as to make the fulfilling of them involve 
absurdities and impossibilities, we may be sure that we 
are a long way off the track that will lead us to a true 
conception of Christ's meaning. 

The lamb opens the seals, revealing the secrets 
contained in them to his disciple John, and through 
bim to his people in all future ages ; but remember the 
number 7 represents fullness, that is, it comprehends 
the whole period of succeeding ages of man's state 
of probation, from the time of this revelation to the 
general judgment, and it is impossible for any man to 
live in all the seals, as they are to be opened in regular 
succession. See the 6th chapter of Revelations, in the 
13th verse of this chapter, we read: "The stars of 
heaven fell into the earth." It is manifest Christ did 
not mean the fixed stars or planets of the ethereal 
beaven fell unto the earth." It is manifest Christ did 
most of them, are very much larger than the earth, and 
to believe this would be to believe an impossibility. But 
some of our contemporaries say this thing has already 
taken place, to-wit, the Adventists, and a prediction 
in the Gospels of a similar natue has been 
fulfilled by an extraordinary and beautiful 
meteoric display many years ago. But to 
indorse their teaching on this question would be to in- 
dorse an absurdity, and therefore this cannot possibly 
be the correct explanation of our Lord's meaning, as 
I have before proved. It is absurd, because these 



326 The Words of Faith. 

meteors are not stars, either of the atmosphere or ethe- 
real heavens ; neither are they stars of the political, the 
legal, the social or the theatrical heavens ; neither, in- 
deed, are they stars at all, of any kind or description. 
It is one thing to be the real thing itself, and quite an- 
other thing to have a faint resemblance to that thing. 
They are simply meteors, and are composed of gas, 
held in form by specific gravity, and have set times for 
paying us visits, which those skilled in astronomy can 
determine in accordance with the smooth workings of 
the laws of nature, with a fair degree of accuracy. 

I remember a few years ago I had a beautiful 
view of one of these meteors. I saw in the aerial 
heavens what appeared to me to be a very fine star, 
and suddenly I saw it glide off in a curving line toward 
me. Its motion was slow enough for my eye to fol- 
low it, and it soon reached the earth and lit in the pas- 
ture, only a few steps from where I stood. It ap- 
peared like a ball of light-colored fire, much larger 
than my fist. When it struck the ground there was 
a noise of explosion. It simply vanished. Such are 
meteors. 

We sometimes read of social stars — political stars, 
theatrical stars, legal stars, etc. In fact, when a per- 
son has rendered himself or herself conspicuous in any 
honorable avocation or position, if he or she succeeds 
in securing public approbation in respectable society, 
he or she is most likely dubbed a star, and the sphere in 
which he moves is denoted by the name of his profes- 
sion, in this way : He or she is a bright, a rising, or 
a setting star in the social, the theatrical, the political 
or the legal world, or heavens (as the case may be). 



The Words of Faith. 327 

Now, this method of depicting celebrated charac- 
ter of a very high order appears to have obtained from 
the most remote antiquity, for our Saviour in deliv- 
ering His predictions relating to the destruction of the 
temple, the fall of Jerusalem, and the abolition of the 
Jewish hierarchy, speaks not only of the fall of the 
stars from heaven, but also of the darkening of the 
sun, and the withdrawing of the moon's light as a re- 
sult of this darkening. He speaks of these things as 
events that would take place either on the day of the 
fulfillment of His predictions, or immediately after. 

Now, let me ask, was the orb of day really dark- 
ened and did the moon withdraw her light when Jeru- 
salem was destroyed by the Romans. Answer : No, 
but the great ruling power of the world, the political 
sun, the Caesar, turned the dark side of his counte- 
nance toward Jerusalem, and his frown brought 
death and destruction to the Jewish nation. Their 
priests were slain and their borrowed light and power 
no longer existed. 

For these vicarious stars of power were de- 
throned and hurled from the political and ecclesiastical 
heavens of the Jewish nation. Indeed, the were bad- 
ly shaken, and they have not yet recovered; but, with 
us, they are still awaiting the more fearful predictions 
contained in the 26th and 27th verses of this chapter 
(which see in the text). Now our friends, the Ad- 
ventists, may be quite sure the Christian world never 
will indorse their views upon this subject, for, by so 
doing, they would indorse monstrous absurdities. And 
I have before shown in some of my other writings that 
for this same reason it is impossible for true Chris- 



328 The Words of Faith. 

tians to indorse their teachings relative to the original, 
or natural, immortality of the human soul. 

I have also shown that it would be worse than 
foolish, it would be madness, to give up our holy first 
day Sabbath for the shadowy seventh day Jewish Sab- 
bath. God's law is as immutable as He is Himself; 
and His law is, when a type is superceded by its anti- 
type, the type ceases to be of any further use and really 
has no existence in the economy of grace. After 
Christ died upon the cross for the sins of mankind, 
Jewish sacrifices were unnecessary for obvious rea- 
sons. So of the other typical institutions of Judaism; 
and St. Paul speaks of two Sabbath days — one was a 
shadow or type of better things. Their Sabbath was 
not only a day of rest, to commemorate our Lord's rest 
from creation, but a type of his rest from redemption 
by His raising from the dead, which he did upon the 
first day of the week. This change was prefigured by 
the institution of the grand year of jubilee, which was 
the fiftieth, not the forty-ninth, year of the Sabaticle 7. 
And Christ came not to destroy the law, but to fulfill 
it, which He did with regard to this law, by raising 
Himself from the dead upon the first day of the week, 
and not upon the seventh day (which He spent in the 
grave and in the spirit world), thus completing His 
second great work, that of redemption (which involves 
a new creation), upon the first day of the week, which 
he sanctions as the true Christian Sabbath, by present- 
ing himself on most accasions of His visits (previous 
to his ascension) on that day to His disciples. Before 
I dismiss these kindred and important subjects and 
leave them with you, I wish to add one more to their 



The Words of Faith. 329 

number, by expressing my thoughts on the words con- 
tained in the 13th verse of the 16th chapter of Revela- 
tions. 

First, I observe the dragon, the beast and the 
false prophet named in this text represent the entire 
world, not included in the kingdom of Christ. And 
this is also the case at the present time, but with this 
difference, these corrupt trees of unrighteousness have 
grown, shot down their roots deeper, increased and 
lengthened their branches. 

It is evident to my mind that these unclean 
spirits are false doctrines promulgated and taught 
by these agents of the prince of darkness. 

"Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the 
spirits, whether they are of God, because many false 
prophets are gone out into the world. (The first Epis- 
tle of John, the 4th chapter and 1st verse,) But these 
unclean spirits that proceeded from the mouths of 
these corrupt powers were like frogs ; nevertheless, we 
cannot infer from this that all unclean spirits or false 
doctrine assume the peculiar characteristics denoted by 
the frog ; for facts prove the contrary. It is quite safe 
to say there is not a branch of the Protestant church 
exempt from their ravages — they are all too plentifully 
supplied with them ; they go flitting about hither and 
thither, seeking a resting place in some poor, hapless 
Christian's soul. 

And prominent among them are the doctrines of 
baptismal regeneration and the belief of the all saving 
effect of a mere nominal union with the visible church, 
causing those who cherish this erroneous spirit in 
their hearts to lay down their weapons of warfare 



330 The Words of Faith. 

against sin and rest short of a vital union with Christ, 
fast asleep in the arms of Satan, from which condition 
it is to be feared vast multitudes wake up in hell to the 
first sense of their true but terrible state. But these 
three unclean spirits assumed the peculiar characteris- 
tics of the frog. Because their support was of a two- 
fold nature, for the frog is an amphibious creature, liv- 
sometimes in the water and sometimes upon the land, 
and derives its support in part from both. 

So, in like manner, these impure spirits had the 
compulsory support furnished by at least two powers, 
the ecclesiastical and civil horns of power, compelling 
the people to indorse them. But those that issued from 
the mouth of the dragon, the Roman emperor, the 
head and chief of the heathen A^orld, whose horns of 
power at that time comprised ten kingdoms, and with 
these the dragon exerted all his vast power to exter- 
minate Christianity, and compel the world to accept 
unadulterated idolatry as the sole system of religion. 
In these efforts, he signally failed, however, but these 
frog-like spirits came out of the mouth of the beast, 
his successor, also, to whom he had delegated his power 
to assist in establishing a half-way idolatry of saint or 
demon worship. 

In order to ascertain who the character really is 
personified by the beast, I refer you to the angel's ex- 
planation of these mysteries, contained in the twelve 
last verses of the 17th chapter of Revelations, observ- 
ing that the description contained in the 3d, 4th, 5th 
and 6th verses of this chapter cannot apply to any po- 
tentate or governor that ever lived, except the Pope of 
Rome and it fits him to a T. Ancient history, I have 



The Words of Faith. 331 

been informed, says among other things, the word 
mystery was originally engraved upon the Pope's 
mitre, but has long since been dropped. He had, how- 
ever, but two horns of power, the ecclesiastical and the 
temporal. But the horn of temporal power has been 
lopped off or confined to very narrow limits. 

These frog-like spirits came also out of the mouth 
of the false prophet. There are many false prophets, 
of which we shall speak further on, but this particular 
one evidently means Mohammed, which is the prince 
of them all, and they are legion. It is a well known 
fact that he propogated his lies and false doctrines 
with the sword, and we also know, or may know, how 
he succeeded. Today the number of his followers far 
exceeds the number of Christians, including the Cath- 
olic and Protestant churches. Yet this impostor was 
not born until long after St. Paul's time. 

Thus we see how effectual the work of these spirits 
in devils is sometimes. (Verse 14.) True devils are 
fallen angels, and are always spirits, nothing more, 
nothing less. Consequently they have no spirits to 
employ. And the spirits of devils must mean demons, 
or the spirits of wicked men, which Christ sometimes 
calls devils. 

These devils once had bodies, but died haters of 
God, and are still full of malice" and revenge. I think 
it highly probable that God may see fit to permit these 
demons to chastize or torment His enemies, as He used 
to permit wicked nations to chastize or torment His 
disobedient people, the Jews. But in the case of de- 
mons, as in the case of these ancient wicked nations, 
He sets limits to their power, which they cannot pass ; 



332 The Words of Faith. 

and who can say that these demons are not permitted 
sometimes to disturb the equilibrium of the atmos- 
pheric heavens, as well as the ecclesiastical and politi- 
cal heavens, thus causing terrific storms and tornadoes. 
In conclusion I observe, many false prophets have 
arisen ; in fact, too numerous to mention ; but notably 
the leaders of the Latter Day Saints, and also the spir- 
itualists, where demons are permitted to astonish peo- 
ple either by deception or by working sham miracles. 
And the Adventists, who make no pretentions to mira- 
cles, but explain away Scripture from its true mean- 
ing, in order to support their delusions, and induce 
others to embrace them. All persons (no matter 
who, or where they are) that entertain and propogate 
doctrines antagonistic to pure and holy truths, that 
shine out in the glorious gospel of the blessed God, as 
taught by our Lord and His apostles, must necessarily 
fall under the ban of false prophets, and abide the in- 
evitable consequences, in accordance with God's just 
decision. 

I have before asserted that our Lord's teachings 
were sometimes so purely spiritual as to be entirely in- 
comprehensible to His hearers, and in other cases, 
although not so purely spiritual, so mysterious as 
to appear to His hearers to be impossible. 

I will furnish you with examples of the truth 
of this statement which are contained in three pass- 
ages of Scripture. The first and second are kindred 
passages, clothed in a little different language, but 
both treating of the same subject, and both pertain- 
ing exclusively to the kingdom of grace. In the 
first example Christ uses some of the well-known 



The Words of Faith. 333 

laws of Nature to impress upon the mind of His 
hearers a most important spiritual truth. And in 
the second example He reiterates the same spiritual 
truth in its naked form, without having recourse 
either to Nature or her laws to convey His mean- 
ing to His hearers. This second scripture, there- 
fore, explains the first. You will find them recorded 
in the 51st and the six following verses of the 6th 
chapter of St. John, and the 25th and 26th verses 
of the nth chapter of the same gospel. 

The third passage relates to the camel and 
the needle's eye. You will find it, Mark 10:25. 

The Jews had been so astonished by the grand 
miracle of feeding a vast multitude with five barley 
loaves and two small fishes that they entertained 
thoughts of making Christ a king, which Jesus per- 
ceived, and left them. The multitude, however, 
sought and found Him on the next day. Christ 
knew their motive was entirely of a worldly and 
selfish nature, and He said unto them : "Ye seek 
me not because ye saw the miracle, but because ye 
did eat of the loaves and were filled." And he now 
proceeds to present a sublime spiritual truth to their 
mind and endeavored to turn the current of their 
thoughts from natural things to spiritual things, and 
beginning at the right place He says : "Labor not 
for the meat which perishes, but for that meat which 
endureth unto everlasting life." 

And they began to speak of the manna their 
fathers ate in the wilderness, as much as to say: 
"The miracle you wrought was not so great as this 
miracle performed by Moses." 



334 The Words of Faith. 

Christ informs them that Moses gave them not 
that bread from heaven, but that God had given 
them the true (spiritual) bread from Heaven, "for 
the bread of God is He which cometh down from 
Heaven and giveth life unto the world." They say, 
"Lord, evermore give us this bread." Jesus told 
them that He was the bread of life, and it is quite 
evident they did not know what they had been 
asking for, and after some further controversy with 
them Christ said : "Your fathers that ate the manna 
are dead. I am the living bread. If any man eat 
of this bread, he shall live forever; and this bread 
is my flesh which I will give for the life of the 
world." (Of course, Christ was speaking of the 
spiritual nature of man, and His hearers were try- 
ing to fit it on to man's corporal being and could 
not do it.) Again, our Lord further said: "Except 
ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His 
blood ye have no life in you, for my flesh is meat 
indeed, and my blood is drink indeed." 

Now, it is quite evident to every thoughtful 
reader of these wonderful and most important truths 
enunciated by our Lord upon this occasion that His 
words had a purely spiritual meaning and nothing 
else, and that His words were to be understood as 
pertaining to the kingdom of grace, which is in 
every way distinct from the kingdom of nature, 
but what makes them appear so mysterious is the 
fact that our Lord uses some of the well-known laws 
of Nature as channels through which to communi- 
cate them to His hearers. It is one of the laws of 
Nature that human life should be sustained, at least 



The Words of Faith. 335 

in part, by what we eat and drink, and that our 
physical health should to a great extent depend 
upon the nature and quality of our food. In tact, 
it is impossible to live long without food. Never- 
theless, all persons eventually experience natural 
death. These are the self-evident truths of the laws 
of Nature, and Christ employs these, together with 
the natural process of eating and drinking our nat- 
ural food, which He uses to represent the act of 
faith on our part by which alone we can receive 
this bread of life into our souls. All these He em- 
ploys to enable His hearers to secure eternal life. 
Christ was addressing His hearers on a purely spir- 
itual subject. He spoke of man in his spiritual 
being, not in his corporal being. The life He 
spoke of is not man's natural life, but his spiritual 
and eternal life. The eating and drinking He spoke 
of is not the process of eating and drinking his nat- 
ural food, but the reception of the truths He taught 
(in relation to Himself) into our spiritual being or 
soul by a God-begotten faith. But, oh, what a sifter 
this conversation proved to be. From that time 
many of His disciples forsook Him forever. They 
neither understood or believed His words. But. that 
this is a true interpretation of our Lord's meaning 
is acknowledged by all parties who conscienciously 
partake of the Holy Sacrament, and is further 
proved by the 25th and 26th verses of the nth 
chapter of John, which is the second text before 
quoted, and which furnishes us with scriptural proof 
of the truth of the foregoing remarks on this sub- 
ject. The text reads as follows: "J esus said unto 



336 The Words of Faith 

her: I am the resurrection and the life; He that 
believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he 
live ; and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall 
never die." 

In these words Christ defines saving faith and 
declares that it is centered entirely in Himself, and 
not in works or ordinances (in which the Jews of 
His day, as well as the Christians of our day, are 
too apt to confide), and that He Himself received 
into the human soul by a living or continuous faith 
and confiding trust is the only spiritual life of the 
soul, and that it is indispensably necessary to secure 
for us eternal life. 

The only rational and consistent way to re- 
ceive the Holy Sacrament is in exact accord with 
these views of the subject. The bread and wine 
are the divinely appointed emblems of the broken 
body and shed blood of Christ, a$d the act of eating 
and drinking the same by our natural man or phys- 
ical body is emblematical of receiving Christ into 
the human soul or spiritual man. Therefore the 
eucharistic bread and wine, in connection with. the 
eating and drinking of the same, in memory of 
Christ's death upon the cross for our sins consti- 
tute a perpetual remembrance of this fact. 

But to believe that these elements are actually 
changed into the real flesh and blood of our Lord, 
or that His real natural body is present in connec- 
tion with the bread and wine is to believe in mon- 
strous absurdities. 

Christ is with us at all times (but especially 
while we thus commemorate His sufferings for us) 



The Words of Faith. 33T 

in His spiritual nature, but He presents Himself 
continually to His Father in His crucified but glori- 
fied body as a complete sacrifice and atonement of 
our sins. And He gives to His true church 
and people the inestimable blessing of the Holy 
Ghost to supply His vacated place in this respect. 
St. Paul said : "Though we have known Christ after 
the flesh, yet now henceforth know we Him no 
more." The 2d of Corinthians, 5:15. 

The third passage referred to may be found 
in the 10th chapter of St. Mark and the 25th verse : 
"It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a 
needle than for a rich man to enter into the king- 
dom of God." I presume that in a great many in- 
stances about one of the first thoughts that occur 
to the mind when we read or hear this text read 
relates to our modern sewing needle, and we im- 
mediately conclude that such an occurrence is an 
absolute impossibility, for the camel's body must 
be reduced to the size of a sewing thread to enable 
it to accomplish the feat. But this was not the 
thought that would present itself to the minds of 
our Lord's hearers. They knew nothing of our 
n.odern sewing needles, for they were only invented 
in the reign of Queen Elizabeth of England. Their 
thought would be, how can such a bulky animal as 
the camel crowd himself through one of our narrow 
passages through which we pass on foot into and 
out from our cities. Christ said it is easier for a 
camel to do this, etc. The fact is the cities of this 
time, if they made any pretensions to security, were 
surrounded by high and very thick and very strong 



338 The Words of Faith. 

walls. At least from twenty to thirty-five feet in 
thickness. Consequently they of necessity had pass- 
ages of sufficient width to permit loaded vehicles 
and beasts of burden with enormous packs upon 
their backs to pass through them. This passway 
was called the needle, and on either side were very 
narrow passages. If I remember correctly, not 
much over two feet in width. These were called 
the eye of the needle and were designed for and 
and adapted to foot passengers only. I have seen 
one of them and been through it in my schoolboy 
days in the city of Bristol, England, where there 
w r as a part of the old city wall with this needle and 
eye still standing and in a state of very fair preserva- 
tion. Now it would have been impossible for an 
ordinary camel to go through the place that I went 
through, still it may have been possible for a very 
small, young camel to have been crowded through 
it with great difficulty. And our Saviour told His 
hearers (when they said who, then, can be saved) 
that "with men it was impossible, but not with 
God." (That is, for any rich man to be saved.) 
But He did not say or mean that it was impossible 
for any camel to pass through the eye of the needle, 
for He had before said it was easier for a camel to 
do this than for a rich man to be saved. 



RECAPITULATION OF SOME OF THE FORE- 
GOING STATEMENTS. 

When we read of stars falling from Heaven in 



The Words of Faith. 339 

the scriptures we understand stars to mean persons 
who have rendered themselves conspicuously noto- 
rious by their achievements in any avocation or in 
any position of trust, and in any nation or age of the 
world, falling from their exalted stations and los- 
ing all power and influence. This figure may be 
further explained and illustrated in this way : A 
celebrated emperor, or king, or dictator, as the 
case may be, is dethroned and has lost all his regal 
power. He can no longer shine as a star in the 
constellation of the legislature and administrative 
heavens of his nation. Such legislative bodies as 
the British Parliament, including both houses, or 
the Lords and Commons, may be dissolved. The 
same is true, as we all know, in respect of all 
worldly kingdoms and powers under all forms of 
government, but whenever any one of these is badly 
shaken up by internal commotion or foreign wars 
there is a perfect show r er of stars falling from the 
legislative heavens. But it is not a meteoric display. 
Further, persons of all ages, and in all countries 
may be brought low, very low indeed, and they 
may fall from their exalted stations in the legisla- 
tive, the political, the military, the ecclesiastical, 
the legal or even the theatrical heavens, but this 
does not involve the falling of aerial meteors. 

The unclean spirits named in the 13th verse 
of the 15th chapter of Revelations evidently mean 
false doctrine, but the number three is specific and 
not general and applies first to the heathen world 
under the Roman emperors. Second, to the anti- 



340 The Wokds of Faith. 

Christian or degenerated church, to whom the 
dragon or heathen ruler had delegated his power. 
Third, to the false prophet or Mahomet. We are 
not to suppose that three is the sum total of un- 
clean spirits, for their number is legion. In fact, 
any doctrine entertained by any person or church 
relating to God and His law which is not in accord 
with gospel truth is false doctrine. But if it is en- 
forced by the law of the church and the state where 
the church is located it assumes the characteristics 
of the frog, which derives its support from two ele- 
ments. 



The Words of Faith. 341 



PRIVILEGES AND OBLIGATIONS OF THE 
FAITHFUL IN CHRIST JESUS. 



Ephesians, 3:20,21. 

The preachers of the gospel of the present day 
are not exposed to the terrible persecutions en- 
dured by the apostles. In these United States and, 
indeed, in all other free and Protestant governments 
we scarcely know what persecutions means. But 
Paul was put in irons and committed to prison for 
preaching Christ. While he wrote this and other 
epistles from Rome he was "an ambassador in 
bonds," but the word of God was not bound. He 
could still think, write and pray to profit. This 
providence proves that God is too wise to err and 
too good to be unkind, for He undoubtedly permit- 
ted this affliction to come upon Paul, not only for 
his own good, but for the good and edification of 
His church. Throughout all the ages of time some 
of our most learned divines esteem Paul's prayer 
for the Ephesians as excelling in beauty and gran- 
ueur not only all the classics of Greece and Rome, 
but all other parts of the New Testament. See the 
13th and six following verses of this chapter im- 
mediately preceding our text. Paul in giving ut- 
terance to and pursuing these sublime thoughts and 
prayer was not mad, as he once said to Felix, but 
spake forth the words of truth and soberness. The 



342 The Words of Faith. 

text is a sort of doxology with which he concludes 
this sublime prayer. 

First, we notice the privilege and, second, the- 
obligation of believers or Christians. The privilege 
alluded to in the context is not common property 
of all professing Christians promiscuously who may 
have succeeded in establishing themselves in some 
branch of the Visible Church, but is the special 
privilege of the few chosen out of the many called- 
in a word, it is the peculiar perquisite or special 
privilege of a peculiar people, namely, a people pe- 
culiar for being begotten again by the Holy Ghost 
and born into Christ's spiritual kingdom through a 
special and personal faith in His blood for a personal 
and present salvation from all past sin. This privi- 
lege is direct access to God, the eternal Father, not 
only through the ordinary channels of church ordi- 
nances, but independently of these. St. Paul en- 
joyed this privilege while an ambassador in bonds r 
and we can, if faithful to our calling, enjoy the same 
inestimable blessing if, like him, we have the spirit 
of the Son of God in our hearts, crying, Abba Fath- 
er. "Why as though living in the world are ye sub- 
ject to ordinances" (i. e.) legal ceremonies in con- 
nection with the Visible Church. (Cols., 2 120.) God 
can save independently of these through Christ, but 
not independently of Christ. This privilege enables 
the true believer to move the arm that sustains and 
governs the universe. While Moses' hands were 
uplifted in prayer, Israel prevailed, but when his 
arms drooped Amalek prevailed. Notwithstanding 
all this, the faculties of the new convert into Christ's 



The Words of Faith. 343 

kingdom are not fully developed like those of the 
strong man in Christ Jesus. 

These thoughts passing through my mind sug- 
gest a circumstance with which I was closely con- 
nected, which may serve to illustrate my meaning. 
The subject of these remarks was a lady, who had 
spent a considerable part of her life with the aris- 
tocracy and nobility in England, but in after life 
she became our neighbor. Of course she had been 
much under the influence of the High Church party, 
which is much more celebrated for its ceremonies 
and its ordinances tan for its piety, and she would 
scorn the idea of not being a true Christian believer. 
She believed there was one God and one mediator 
between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, whom 
she knew at a distance by hearsay, but was not in- 
timately acquainted with His as her own Saviour 
and bosom friend. While in this condition God vis- 
ited her with her last sickness, and she was per- 
suaded by a pious nurse to plead God's promise of 
mercy to those who believe in His Son. She re- 
plied : "Oh, do you pray for me. God will hear 
you, but He will not hear me now." This is the 
sad result of trusting in church ceremonial ordi- 
nances instead of trusting in the blood of Christ for 
pardon. She was deprived of this privilege. 

But to return to our subject. This privilege 
is to ask the Lord in prayer for whatever we need. 
While in this state of trial we are exposed to dan- 
gers from which none but God can save us. We 
have wants which none but God can supply. We 
are liable to affliction where every friend but Jesus 



344 The Words of Faith. 

will fail to afford us relief. But God says to His 
people : "Call upon me in thy day of trouble. I will 
deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me." It is our 
privilege to ask of Him great blessings "who is 
able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we 
ask or think." Jesus says : "Ask and ye shall re- 
ceive that your joy may be full." We may therefore 
ask in confidential hope of receiving large blessings 
of grace. Jesus says : "Whatsoever ye shall ask in 
my name that will I do, that the Father may be glor- 
ified in the Son." When thought and language both 
fail God is able to do exceeding abundantly above all 
we ask or think. God is as willing to bless us as 
He is able. The Lord is ever waiting to be gracious. 
In this life of trial, although within the fold of 
Christ's kingdom we are still exposed to a three- 
fold enemy, and are by nature weak. We can only 
be strong and victorious in this unequal contest 
when in close proximity with Christ. Hence we are 
not invincible in ourselves, but liable to sin and fall 
with a wounded conscience. But, thank God, even 
in this case we have a right to plead the gospel 
promises. "If we confess our sins, He is faithful 
and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us 
from all unrighteousness." Now herein is a prom- 
ise, first of forgiveness, and second, of purification. 
"But if we walk in the light as He is the light, we 
have fellowship one with another, and the blood of 
Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin." 
This testimony is complete. 

They who suppose that the blood of the Son of 
God can only purify in part here, and that the 



The Words of Faith. 345 

death of the natural body must finish the work, we 
think undervalue that blood that cleanses from all 
sin. We think many people entertain erronious 
view r s relating to the necessity of believers being 
tormented by inbred sin until death relieves them 
from it. But we know one thing and that is that 
we are more inconsistent in our practice than they 
are in their faith. There is much need of a deeper 
work of grace in our hearts. The sense of pardon 
and peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ 
are evidences that we are justified through faith in 
the blood of Christ and cleansed from the guilt of 
past sin. But the unholy passions in our hearts 
prove that the roots of sin are not yet dead but 
living, and frequently springing up to torment us. 

To be saved from inbred sin is only the nega- 
tive part of Christian perfection. The positive part 
is that Christ may dw r ell in our hearts by faith, etc., 
etc., and w r e be filled with all the fullness of God. 
(See context.) All this is accomplished according 
to the power that worketh in us (or the Holy Spir- 
it's influence generating in us a justifying and 
sanctifying faith). All religion without this spirit 
is the name without the thing. It is an impossi- 
bility either to convert or purify a soul without the 
Spirit's influence, for He alone can take of the 
things that are Christ's and show them unto us. 
The Bible without the Spirit's influence is to a great 
extent a sealed book. It requires the same power to 
raise those who are spiritually dead in sin into new 
spiritual life as it did to raise Christ from the dead. 
The same light in which the revelation of God to 



346 The Words of Faith. 

man was written is necessary in order to read it 
understandingly. Now, all these privileges bring 
us under obligation to give glory to God. "Unto 
Him be glory/' As to God's inherent personal 
glory, it cannot be conceived or comprehended eith- 
er by men or angels. If the glory of the sun is as 
bright and consuming as we know it is, what must 
the glory of God be who made the sun? That glory 
appeared to Moses on the mount in a mild form, 
and to the disciples on the mount of transfigura- 
tion. But these were mere reflections from the Son 
of Righteousness. Now it is the reasonable service 
of His peculiar people to declare His glory by as- 
scribing to Him all praise for the displays of His 
wisdom, power and especially His goodness and 
love. "For God so loved the world that He gave 
His only beloved Son that whosoever believeth in 
Him might not perish, but have everlasting life." 
It is our special duty as sinners saved by grace to 
give God all the praise for all the good done in us 
or by us. A true work of grace is never ascribed 
by its subject either to church ordinances or his own 
faith, through which he receives it, but to the Lord. 
Christ. 

It is quite natural for a soul just born again 
to cry out, "Glory be to God," and at times in after 
life when he receives fresh supplies of grace from 
the beneficent hand of his heavenly Father to say, 
"Glory be to God." I do not know how it really 
is, for I am not in a position to know, but it does 
seem to me the churches are all too cold to shout 
Glory to God," much. Oh, that the angel of God 



The Words of Faith. 347 

would take some coals of holy fire from off the altar 
before the throne and drop them into the midst of 
every branch of the Visible Church. Of course, we 
understand a branch of the Visible Church to mean 
a congregation of faithful men to which the word 
of God is preached. God has a right to expect 
glory from the church universal, that is, all the 
congregations combined in one church militant, 
which embraces all true believers of every age, na- 
tion and denomination. Now suppose that glory be 
ascribed to God by this church through Christ, and 
we suppose we have what Paul prays for, and if 
this work continues till the world is converted, the 
end of the gospel ministry through the agency of 
this church is effected to far as it pertains to this 
world. But all these blessings of grace come down 
to us through Jesus Christ, therefore all our acts 
of worship, consisting of either prayer or praise, to 
be accepted, must be offered to God in the name 
and through the mediation of Christ. 

There is nothing in man on account of which he 
has any right to come into the presence of God. 
Some talk of man's worthiness, but man in himself, 
i. e., independent of Christ, is utterly unworthy of 
the least gift or even notice of God. Jesus Christ 
says expressly: "No man cometh unto the Father 
but by me." Moreover, it is certain that the gospel 
system of salvation by grace through faith will be 
perpetual, at least until the end of time, and it will 
never grow old or wear out. Its effects are the 
same in all nations and in all ages, for all true con- 
verts to Christ have the spirit of adoption sent forth 



348 The Words of Faith. 

into their hearts whereby they cry, "Abba Father." 
If any person reads the foregoing manuscript 
out of curiosity, because he knows the writer to 
be an obscure old man, almost excluded from so- 
ciety by the infirmities common to old people, we 
trust they will remember that old man's prayer still 
is, as it ever has been, ''Lord keep me little and un- 
known, loved and prized by Thee alone." We also 
trust they will discover that old man's object in 
writing these things is to set before the mind of 
the Christian not only his privileges and obligations, 
but also the show that by the use of the former and 
faithful performance of the latter, God designs to 
facilitate and promote his growth in grace until 
he comes to a perfect man, unto the measure of 
the stature of the fullness of Christ. Ephesians, 
4:13-15, inclusive. 

But if we grow up into Christ we must first 
be planted in Him. This is the first and absolutely 
indispensable step that transfers us from the king- 
dom of Satan to the kingdom of Christ. It is of 
the utmost importance to us that we make no mis- 
take here, for if we fail here we shall fail finally 
to obtain the crown of life, because in Him alone 
we have eternal life. Some persons may say, of 
course, these are self-evident facts, and we are 
planted in Christ when we are planted in the like- 
ness of His death in the baptismal waters by the 
officiating minister of the church. I reply this de- 
pends entirely on the faith of the subject of baptism. 
This is the work of the pure or unadulterated grace 
of God, and it excludes the aid of mortal man. He 



The Words of Faith. 349 

can neither effect or prevent it. The Holy Ghost 
takes of the things that are Christ's and shows them 
to the pardoned sinner, who for the first time knows 
and feels his sins forgiven. His faith in Christ is 
not a spurious faith, but "the faith of the operation 
of God." Colossians, 2:12. 

Now, we admit that it is no easy matter for 
the Christian to maintain his position of justification 
in the sight of God for two reasons. The first is, 
the corrupt tree of all past sin being cut down, and 
the sense of God's displeasure on account of these 
sins being removed, his mind is no longer burdened 
with this load, for by an act of this God-begotten 
faith he has been enabled, to lay them all on his 
blessed Saviour, and he may well cry out in his 
ecstasy, "Glory be to God." 

But the roots of this corrupt tree are not yet 
dead, and he has to wage a constant warfare against 
them to keep them in subjection. 

The second reason is he is still in an enemy's 
country. How exceedingly difficult for a person 
clad in a pure white robe to walk through the 
crowded streets of a city of dirty people without 
soiling his robe, but the frequent use of this privi- 
lege and faithful performance of these obligatory 
duties will greatly facilitate his progress, and God 
will supply him with grace according to his necessi- 
ties and with wisdom and strength to perform the 
work assigned him. One thought more and I have 
done. Bad habits are doubtless the most difficult 
evils that the Christian has to conquer, and the 
sooner he attacks them the better, for they must 



350 The Words of Faith. 

be subdued. But it will require the help of Omnipo- 
tence to do this work. Remember, it is easier to 
destroy a young tree than a full grown one. Small 
weeds are much easier destroyed than rank weeds 
that cover the ground and choke the good seed. 

Be it known, the sublime truths of Christianity 
are like the fountain from which they flowed, our 
adorable Creator. They are therefore immutable, 
admitting of no change or variation. Nothing can 
be taken from them or added to them. Nor can 
they be communicated to man in all their perfect 
purity through an impure and imperfect medium, 
which admits of two or more distinct meanings to 
the same word or phrase, except that divine truth 
be under the special protection of God, and this is 
undoubtedly the case, for the mediums through 
which this truth is conveyed to us embrace all the 
ancient and modern, dead and living languages, too 
numerous to mention. But in every case where 
the language through which these truths are com- 
municated to the people fails to convey them in 
their primitive purity, these people are a misguided 
people in matters of fact relating to their spiritual 
welfare, both for time and eternity, for the truth is 
and must ever be the same, no matter if it comes 
to us through the Syrian, Hebrew, Babylonish, 
Greek, Latin, English, French or any other lan- 
guage. Hence the need of a strict adherence to the 
original root in all our interpretations and explana- 
tions of scripture. 



The Words of Faith. 351 



PREFACE TO REMARKS ON SKEPTICISM 

"And for this cause God shall send them strong 
delusion that they should believe a lie ; that they all 
might be damned who believed not the truth." The 
second epistle of Paul to the Thessalonians, 2d chap- 
ter, the nth and part of the 12th verse.) 

That our Lord when He said to Nicodemus : 
"Except a man be born again he cannot see the 
kingdom of God," did not mean that the birth to 
which He alludes as having already taken place 
once was the natural birth of the body that takes 
place when a human being is born into this world, 
but that it was the birth or begetting of the divine 
life into the soul of Adam in his creation which was 
subsequent to the formation of his body of the dust 
of the ground, and took place when God "breathed 
into his nostrils the breath of life and man became 
a living soul." That this is correct is evident from 
the following: "Which were born, not of blood, nor 
of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but 
of God." (N. B. — This life and image was lost 
in the fall of Adam, but can be restored by Christ 
in the second birth unto all that receive Him as 
the God, man mediator, between God and man, who 
holds the Eternal God in the right hand of his di- 
vinity and lays the left hand of his humanity on 
man, and by a stupendous dying effort upon the 
cross which makes Heaven, Earth and Hell quake 
and tremble reconciles God and sinners in Himself. 

April 29, 1900. 



352 The Words of Faith. 



THE DEATH OF MAN. 



Some Extracts of Remarks Prepared and Read at 
the Funeral of Mr. Joel Compton. 

I suppose this is the last time I shall have an 
opportunity to speak on an occasion of this kind, 
and I feel it to be my duty to embrace it for I am 
convinced it can not be long before I shall be be- 
holding to some friend to dig a grave for me. In 
fact the position occupied by our deceased friend is 
one which we must all, sooner or later, occupy. No 
circumstances can exempt us from serving in this 
war. The young, the old, the rich, the poor, the 
fine scholar and illiterate wayfaring man, are all 
alike liable at any time to be summoned front to en- 
gage in a hand to hand contest with the grim 
tyrant; and we all know the result of the contest. 
The wise man said it is better to go to the house of 
mourning than to the house of feasting, for the liv- 
ing: will lay it to his heart. If I could give you a 
long history of this man's life it would be quite un- 
necessary for me to do so, as many of you know his 
history much better than I do, but nothing we can 
say or do can in any way augment or decrease the 
happiness or disquietude of those who have passed 
away, our business is, therefore, at present with the 
living, but there are, however, a few things I would 
like to say. A more quiet, inoffensive, unobtrusive 
man I never knew, he was a man that attended to 



The Words of Faith. 353 

his own business ; a kind and affectionate father and 
husband, a good neighbor, and I believe a man that 
was generally respected. He had not however, 
identified himself with any branch of the visible 
church or with any human organization or society 
of professing Christians. I can not say what he 
thought of these things, he may have taken the 
broad Christlike view of the matter, and regulated 
his conduct accordingly ; if he did so all is well, for 
the mere formal union with any church will never 
save a soul from death, nothing short of a vital 
union with Christ can do this; some professed 
Christian's souls are so small that none outside their 
own society or church can get into them. But the 
true church militant, which is Christ's spiritual 
kingdom consists of all who believe Jesus Christ is 
the Son of the living God, love and fear God and 
work righteousness. Now to do this they must 
have saving faith in Christ. The visible church is a 
branch of the kingdom of God on earth, it is the 
agent employed by Christ to cast the gospel net 
into the sea of the world, and this net gathers of the 
fish of the sea both bad and good. Mathews, 7th 
chapter, 47th and 3 following verses. I believe many 
who succeed in getting to heaven out of the different 
human organizations or churches, will be surprised 
to find so many adult Christians there who were 
never entangled in the meshes of any net. In the 
10th verse of the 8th chapter of Matthew, Jesus says, 
when speaking of the Gentile centurion : I have not 
found so great faith, no not in Israel. Notwith- 
standing it is for. the great advantage of God's 



35J: The Words of Faith. 

people to associate themselves together in societies 
for the. purpose of mutual edification and encourage- 
ment, some person may say: Can I not be saved 
without joining the church or becoming a member 
of any of these societies? Answer. It is God's 
plan for us to identify ourselves with his visible 
church in this way and God's plan is best for us, for 
although God can save a sinner independent of these 
organizations, yet it is greatly to our advantage to 
be identified with one which we verily believe to be 
most conducive to God's glory in the advancement 
of our spiritual interests. Suppose we were living 
in a community a vast majority of which believe 
there exists not far distant, a most beautiful coun- 
try, adorned with the most lovely scenery and 
blessed with the most delightful climate, where the 
inhabitants lack nothing to make them perfectly 
happy and nothing exists that can disturb their 
peace for a moment, add to this that these people 
never grow old or die, but enjoy perfect and per- 
petual health. Suppose I say that we lived in a 
community where nearly every one believed in the 
existence of just such a place as I have been endeav- 
oring to describe and that many of these people had 
formed themselves into bands or societies for the 
purpose of assisting each other to make the neces- 
sary preparation for the journey for they had de- 
termined to go there. 

And the governor of that country had issued 
his mandate, setting forth certain prereguisites as 
indispensably necessary to be observed and com- 
plied with by all who ever landed upon his shores, 



The VVokds of Faith. 355 

.-and that the Governor's own Son, who was the only 
person who ever came from this delightful country 
to the country where these people lived, did really 
come and live among them for about 33 years and 
told them a great many things about his father's 
country and the only possible way of getting to it, 
and left a book with these people for their instruc- 
tion in these matters and even went so far as to pay 
all their debts for them, for it was impossible to 
exhaust or even diminish His riches, and He was 
determined to remove all real obstacles out of the 
way that could prevent their coming to His own 
beautiful home. Suppose I say we lived in just 
such a community as this, and this is just what we 
are doing, would it not be wise in us to unite with 
some of their societies or bands, to get schooled and 
qualified to take the trip and inhabit the country. 
In fact this is only what many foreigners do pre- 
vious to coming to these United States. But Jesus 
said the children of this world are in their genera- 
tion wiser than the children of Light. Again in 
Mark the 13th chapter and 35th verse He says: 
"What I say unto you I say unto all, watch." We 
should watch, both as active and passive agents, 
for every chance to do our part in the execution of 
the grand design of our creation and redemption by 
embracing every opportunity to glorify God in our 
lives, trusting implicitly in Him at all times, and 
conforming to his will, even when the doing of these 
things clashes with our apparent interests. Second- 
ly, watch for every opportunity to glorify God by 
doing all the good we can to our fellow man, as God 



356 The Words of Faith. 

blesses us with the ability and power to do these 
things, for when we have the opportunity God ex- 
pects us to do our duty by embracing it and He will 
hold us responsible for our neglect, or for our mis- 
appropriation of the talent intrusted to our use. 
Watch, for ye know not at what hour the master 
cometh. Now if we perform these duties faithfully 
with a single eye to the glory of God we have the 
satisfaction of knowing that at least some of those 
who have preceded us in the race of life will be 
waiting to greet us, and welcome us to everlasting: 
habitations when we have crossed the boundaries 
of time and have our first experience in mingling: 
in social intercourse with the disembodied spirits of 
our ancestors. These important truths are taught 
by Christ and we can not avoid seeing if we con- 
sider this matter that God places the measure of our 
future happiness after our work on earth is done 
in our hands, and that our happiness will be in pro- 
portion, not so much to the number of talents given, 
as to the use we make of what we have ; hence we 
see the extreme folly of those who labor incessantly 
to enmass wealth not to glorify God by using it for 
either the spiritual or temporal benefit of other peo- 
ple, but only for the carnal satisfaction of scraping- 
together the material to form and decorate a huge 
idol mammon. 

Third. Watch for the coming of the Son of 
Man at death. "Be ye therefore ready, for in such 
an hour as ye think not the Son of Man cometh/* 
The decree has gone forth and we know that it has 
never been revoked and never will be. Dust thou 



The Words of Faith. 357 

:art, and unto dust shalt thou return. It is appointed 
•unto man once to die. 

Yes, yes, the bitter stream will find us all out 
sooner or later, we can not ward off or escape the 
blow, when the Angel of Death strikes. A single 
touch of his cold icy finger is enough, we want no 
more. 

He tears the slender cord away, 
That binds the spirit to the day. 

We drop it, leaving the world and all apper- 
taining thereunto behind us, and quick as a flash of 
lightning we strike out on the vast and fathomless 
ocean of Eternity to take our first experience in the 
land of shades, in holding our first intercourse with 
the disembodied spirits of the dead of all ages and 
nations. Then we shall see many we never ex- 
pected to and perhaps look in vain for others. But 
the great mass of human souls will be those of 
which he knew absolutely nothing in the present 
life, all however awaiting the reunion with the body 
in its spiritualized state when raised by the trump 
of the archangles and revivified by the spirit of God. 
Then we shall see the patriarchs and the holy 
prophecy and Apostles. But infinitely above all 
these we shall see our beloved Redeemer, but what 
a change has taken place in his appearance since He 
hung upon the cross for our sins, and yet it is Jesus 
Himself, but oh, how glorious, all the glories of the 
triune Deity beaming forth in His majestic counten- 
ance. See Rev. ist chapter and 13th and 3 follow- 
ing verses. And yet to the redeemed and saved this 



358 The Words of Faith. 

glorious countenance is the most welcome ancF 
cheering of any in heaven. Just think of it, angels- 
and archangels, bending with veiled faces before 
Him while they exclaim, worthy the lamb that died 
to be executed thus and all the redeemed in heaven 
chant in full chorus, worthy for He was slain for us. 
(This is more than angels can say.) We have 
thought much of these things. But eye hath not 
seen, neither ear heard or heart conceived the 
blessed things in store for God's people. There is 
no language by which they can be expressed or 
described. Again I say watch for the temptations of 
Satan. The encroachments of the world. 

And the uprisings of our passions and appe- 
tites. Watch and pray lest ye enter into tempta- 
tion — not lest ye be tempted. 

For Christ was tempted on all points, like unto- 
us, yet without sin. But when we pray, lead us not 
into temptation, take care we don't run into it of 
our own free will. Christ knew no sin, therefore the 
sin is not in being tempted, but in yielding to the 
tempation. There are two kinds of sin — negative 
and positive. The negative sin is committed by 
those who know how to do good, but do it not. "To 
him it is sin." Now we all know that the time wilf 
come when we, like our deceased friend, must give 
an account of our stewardship. 

No thing can be more certain than death, or 
more uncertain than human life. We are here to- 
day, but where, oh, where, shall we be one year 
hence? Who can say. Let us, therefore, learn wis- 
dom, by our daily observations of God's providence- 



The Words of Faith. 359 

Now, if ye know these things, happy are ye if 
ye do them. And ye shall be like the man, who dug 
deep, and laid the foundation of his house on solid 
rock, and the superstructure remained intact and 
unimpaired when the tornado which swept over it 
had leveled all around it. 

Oh, that each in the day 

Of His coming may say : 

I have fought my way through ; 

I have finished the work thou didst give me to do. 

Oh, that each from his Lord 

May receive the glad word : 

Well and faithfully done, 

Enter into my joy, and sit down on my throne. 



360 The Words of Faith. 



THE THIRTEENTH AND SIX FOLLOWING 

VERSES OF THE SIXTEENTH 

CHAPTER OF MATTHEW. 



Or the Conversation Which Took Place Between 
Jesus Christ and His Disciples. 

I am aware that this is a very comprehensive 
subject, and one that embraces some points of very 
great importance, which for ages have been the 
subject of controversy and dispute in the church, 
and one of the parties to this dispute claims for the 
head of their church — which they assume to be the 
true and Catholic church of Christ on earth — the 
absurd doctrine of infallibility in all church mat- 
ters. Now this is a prerogative belonging exclu- 
sively to Deity. 

I will now state my reasons for writing on this 
subject, and taking upon myself the responsibility of 
condensing into a suitable form such information 
from the authors to which I have access and pre- 
senting the same in connection with my own 
thoughts. 

I had just finished writing on the Parable of the 
Ten Virgins, and was searching the Scriptures for 
a scripture text upon which to write, when my eye 
accidentally fell upon this one. Never before had 
I any idea of either speaking or writing on this sub- 
ject, and I certainly do it now under a deep sense of 
my own insufficiency to do it justice unaided by the 



The Words of Faith. 361 

enlightening influences of the Holp Spirit. 

But something seemed to say to me, This is the 
one that will be for God's glory. I replied, But 
what can I do with it; it is too deep and difficult for 
me? When these thoughts were presented to my 
mind, get what light you can on it, and My Spirit 
shall suppty you with ideas as you need to express 
your thoughts in writing. And I know my Saviour 
will not disappoint me. 

The preceding part of this chapter contains a 
history of certain events in the itinerant life of Christ, 
that took place after he had fed and dismissed the 
four thousand in the wilderness, and had come into 
the coast of Magdala. But the conversation be- 
tween our Lord and His disciples, recorded in the 
text, took place long after these events had trans- 
pired, and Jesus had left the coasts of Magdala and 
come into the coasts of Cesarea Philippi. The Jew 
ish historian, Josephus, informs us that this Philip, 
in whose territorial jurisdiction our Saviour was 
en this conversation occurred, was a mild and in- 
offensive man. If this is true, and I see no reason 
to doubt it, perhaps our blessed Saviour resorted 
thither for a season of rest for a short period, from 
His toils and persecutions. But, be this as it may, 
He embraced the opportunity for a little private 
talk with His disciples, and He asked them this 
question : 

"Whom do men say that I, the Son of Man, 
am?" 

It is evident that Christ did not ask this ques- 
tion for His own information. It is also evident 



362 The Words of Faith. 

that His object was to instruct and edify His dis- 
ciples, by impressing upon their minds the great 
cardinal doctrine of Christianity, which was His 
true nature, namely His divinity, combined with 
humanity. 

Jesus cared very little what others thought of 
Him, so long as their thoughts did not injure them- 
selves, but He knew the thoughts of all men, as 
well as their words, without asking His disciples. 

,Now the Jews were expecting some extraord- 
inary being at this time ; in fact, they were expect- 
ing the Messiah, and they were in doubt whether 
he would be of divine or human origin, and if he 
would come from the living or the dead. 

Herod the king thought John the Baptist was 
raised from the dead ; others thought Elijah or Jere- 
miah would raise from the dead. But they all ex- 
pected him as a special boon from heaven peculiar 
to their nation only. 

These people were on the lookout for this stran- 
ger continually, and scrutinized closely the charac- 
ter and origin of every remarkable man that hap- 
pened along, for they had a notion that when the 
Messiah did come no one would know his parent- 
age; also that he would assume the reins of their 
government, free them from the tyrannical power 
of Rome, and raise them to the very highest pin- 
nacle of national power and grandure. 

Hence the words, "whose father and mother 
we know ;" but in this they were terribly mistaken. 
Had they said, "whose mother we know, but whose 



The Words of Faith. 363 

father we do not know," they would have hit the 
mark exactly. 

This was the stumbling stone laid in Zion at 
which the Jews as a nation stumbled and fell, and 
they still stumble at this chief cornerstone in Zion's 
foundation. But it is laid there by God, and is a 
sure foundation, immutable and eternal, and those 
fabrics of so-called Christianity built on any other 
foundation will be like castles built in the air. 

These Jews recognized the human nature in 
Christ, but not the divine nature. No doubt but 
some of them at least were aware of the wonderful 
facts which attended His conception and His birth, 
but perhaps comparatively few. Consequently they 
would have been more excusable for their ignorance 
had they not been favored with so many glorious 
manifestations of divine power in the works which 
our Saviour wrought. Hence the Saviour said: 

"But now they have no cloak for their sin." 

In fact, they acknowledged that His works 
transcended all human power to execute. But they 
ascribed the glory of them to the devil, well know- 
ing at the same time that the devil never could if 
he would, and never would if he could, do so much 
good as Jesus was doing, and this when carried out 
by crucifying our blessed Saviour, who is none 
other than the Son of the Living God, and thus 
treating Him as a malefactor or the devil's agent. 

This, I say, was the grand climax of their sin, 
which sunk them into a whirlpool of iniquity, from 
which none can raise them but the very one that 
they crucified, and for which they are now suffering 



364 The Words of Faith. 

and will continue to suffer spiritual blindness, until 
the fullness of the Gentiles are brought within the 
pale of the Visible Church. 

Hence our beloved Redeemer, well knowing the 
vital importance of a correct knowledge of His real 
nature, asks His disciples this question : 

"Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?" 

They could see, by His personal appearance, 
that He was a man; but they could not see by this 
that He was anything more than man. And Jesus, 
when speaking of Himself, generally calls Himself 
the Son of Man. I believe the first time He pro- 
claimed himself to be the Messiah was to the woman 
of Samarid, at Jacob's well, in these words : 

"I that speak unto thee am He." 

Having asked what men said about Him, and 
received the answer contained in the fourteenth 
verse, He turns to His disciples and asks : 

"But who, say ye that I am?" 

Now Jesus brings the question close home to 
them. He first proposed it to them in reference to 
the people. By approaching them in this easy way, 
He prepares their minds for giving Him an an- 
swer in accordance with their estimation of His true 
nature, as evidenced in His person and character. 

To this direct question Peter, who was always 
the most forward to give his ©pinion, and upon this 
occasion seems to speak for the rest, as well as him- 
self, replies : 

"Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living 
God." 



The Words of Faith. 365 

In Peter's answer we have a genuine instance 
of making the good confession. 

You say, How do you know it was genuine. I 
reply, By our Lord's answer, for none can be genu- 
ine except this fact is revealed unto those who make 
it, in the same way that it was revealed unto Peter, 
that is by God ; for flesh and blood cannot reveal it, 
any more than flesh and blood, such as our bodies 
consist of in the present life, can inherit the king- 
dom of ultimate glory. 

I have heard a great deal of talk about making 
the good confession, and in so doing I have heard 
considerable nonsense, so light and frivolous that 
the first puff from the angel of death will blow it all 
away. It is a very easy thing to stand up and say, 
I believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God, before a 
congregation, and then to go and be baptized. But 
it is not so easy to have this fact revealed unto the 
mind, as Peter had it revealed unto his mind by 
the Eeternal Father of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus 
Christ. 

And no man can come unto Christ, except God 
the Father draws him — don't forget this. A general 
assent to this truth is all we can obtain from flesh 
and blood — that is from our human spiritual in- 
structors. 

Christ saw that Peter had been instructed in 
this divine secret by His Father, and that the secret 
of the Lord was with him, which secret is hid from 
those who content themselves with a general assent 
to this truth. 



366 The Words of Faith. 

In the First Corinthians, second chapter and 
eleventh verse, we have these words : 

"Even so the things of God knoweth no man, 
but the Spirit of God." 

Compare this with the sixteenth verse of the 
eighth chapter of Romans : 

"The spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit 
that we are the children of God." 

This proves that the great blessing of saving- 
faith is hid from all except those to whom God 
makes this special revelation by His Spirit, and. this 
corresponds with the teaching of Christ on this sub- 
ject before alluded to. 

Therefore it is true that no man can come to 
Christ for salvation except the Father of our Lord 
draw him by His spirit. But it is a very deep 
truth, so deep that the human mind, in its efforts to 
fathom it, sometimes becomes bewildered and takes 
opposite sides in a controversy over it. I have heard 
men say that the written Word of God — the Bible — 
is the Holy Spirit of God, thus denying the exist- 
ence of the third person in the Trinity, whose exist- 
ence and individuality our Saviour fully proves in 
these words : 

"If I go not away, the Comforter will not come 
unto you ; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you." 

Now, parties belonging to this class of profes- 
sors claim that as the Scriptures are the Spirit, 
which God uses to draw sinners to Christ, nothing 
more is necessary than to make a public confession 
of faith in the same, be baptized and spend all the 



The Words of Faith. 367 

rest of their lives in repenting of their sins by re- 
fraining from indulging in them. 

Others, however, take the contrary view of this 
truth — which still remains the same, in spite of 
these opposing interpretations. They lay great 
stress on Paul's words when he was speaking of 
the old Jewish church, and also when speaking of 
the prescience or foreknowledge of God, which they 
understand to imply the eternal and unconditional 
decree of Almighty God to elect to salvation a cer- 
tain and fixed part of the human family, and to 
consign all the rest to eternal punishment, without 
giving any one of them a single chance to escape 
this terrible end. There can be nothing more re- 
pugnant to the teaching of the glorious gospel of 
the blessed God than this construction of the sub- 
lime truth contained in our Saviour's reply to Peter 
In order to prop up their opinion by matter of fact, 
these parties sometimes refer to the 48th verse of 
the 13th chapter of Acts. In the latter part of this 
verse we have these words : "And as many as were 
ordained to eternal life believed." Now these peo- 
ple believe that the aforesaid ordination or decree 
of God is the sole cause of men's faith, and that God 
hath thereby fixed the number of those that shall 
believe, and consequently will be saved. But if so, 
the want or absence of such decree in behalf of oth- 
ers is the sole or principal cause of their unbelief, 
and God by withholding it has fixed the number of 
those that shall not believe and so shall finaly per- 
ish. For if the reason why these people believed 
was because thev were ordained to believe and ob- 



368 The Words of Faith. 

tain eternal life, then the reason why the rest be- 
lieved not was because they were not so ordained 
by God, and if so what necessity could there be 
that the word of God should first be spoken to those 
Jews who rejected it (verse 46) ? Was it only that 
their damnation might be augmented? This charges 
that friend of sinners, whose tender mercies are 
over all His works with the greatest cruelty, be- 
cause it makes Him determine from all erternity 
that a certain part of the human family as capable 
of salvation (as that part elected to eternal life) 
shall perish everlastingly. But this is not all, for 
by the dispensations of His providence toward the 
poor unfortunate ones in causing the gospel to be 
preached He has greatly aggravated their final con- 
demnation, and what could even Satan himself do 
worse for them? Is it not evident that Satan by all 
his temptations endeavors to aggravate their future 
punishment? Such an interpretation as this would 
make God more instrumental in their ruin than the 
Devil himself. Whereas God declares that He is 
not willing that many should perish, but would 
have all men to be saved. But historical facts prove 
that this is an erroneous, inferential doctrine, de- 
duced from this scripture history. 

If as many as (in that assembly) were ordained 
to eternal life believed under Paul's sermon, when 
almost the whole city came together, it follows that 
all who believed not then were eternally shut up 
in unbelief, and that all the elect believed at once, 
and when Paul returned to Antioch few if any could 
be converted by his ministry, God having at once 



The Words of Faith. 369 

taken as many as were ordained to eternal life and 
left the rest for Satan. Now history proves the 
fallacy of this theory. It is not at all difficult to 
find a way out of this dilemma. But we must look 
for another meaning of the original Greek word, 
which our translators have rendered ordained, and 
that is easily found in the word disposed, which 
the best Greek scholars tell us is a more exact 
meaning of the word in this connection than or- 
dained. 

But immediately after pronouncing His bless- 
ing on Peter and making the statement already al- 
luded to, our Savious addresses him in the following 
language : 

"And I say unto thee that thou art Peter and 
upon this rock (of divine truth which thou hast 
uttered) I will build my church and the gates of 
Hell shall not prevail against it. For other founda- 
tion can no man lay than that is laid, which is (Jesus 
Christ") (ist. Cor. 3:1-11), whose divinity is wit- 
nessed by the angel Gabriel in these words: "The 
Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power 
of the Highest shall overshadow them. Therefore 
also that holy thing which shall be born of thee 
shall be called the Son of God." (Luke 1 :3s.) Now 
it is manifest that this divine truth is the rock which 
Christ meant and not Peter, whose name meant 
rock. In connection with this interpretation it is 
worthy of remark that the Greek word rendered 
in our Bible, Peter or rock, is a very different word 
from the Greek word, rendered rock, and does not 
refer to Peter's person, but it refers to Peter's con- 



370 The Words of Faith. 

fession. As if Christ had said : "Thou art what thy 
name signifies, a rock, a substantial stone (or pil- 
lar) in the grand superstructure of the Christian 
church, and upon this rock of divine truth, which 
thou hast confessed, I will build my church. Faith 
in me, the Son of God, shall be its foundation, and 
I will use thee as a master builder to commence 
the building of the superstructure thereupon, and 
so sure and substantial shall this rock of divine 
truth which thou hast confessed be that the gates 
of Hell shall not prevail against it," and, glory be 
to God, they never have and never will. As the word 
gate in this connection signifies the place of en- 
trance into a city, surrounded by a high wall, gen- 
erally of great thickness, it was here in these cham- 
bers that the judges and legislators of the city met 
for the purpose of transacting judicial, executive 
and legislative business. Of course, this language 
is highly metaphorical, but it has always been a 
blessed source of consolation to Christians in times 
of trouble and persecution, especially to all true 
Christians in times of great spiritual declension in 
the church. This promise remains immutably firm 
throughout all the ages of the church militant. 
Many times has the poor, despised Christian been 
made to tremble for the safety of Zion. But when 
he reflects upon this gracious promise to Peter his 
faith is strengthened and his prospect brightened. 
The poor Armenian Christians will not be exter- 
minated. Oh, no, for the gates of Hell shall not 
prevail against it. I understand the true meaning 
of this passage to be no schemes or devices of men, 



The Words of Faith. 371 

however deep laid and concealed, even if suggest- 
de by friends to their minds, shall prevail to the 
utter destruction of the glorious edifice erected up- 
on this foundation. And they never have, and never 
will. Many a time has it been supposed that the 
last vestige of Christianity has been crushed out 
of existence by the violent hand of persecution, 
but this only acted like a tornado to scatter the 
holy fire among the dry stubble of the Gentile world 
and from the very ashes of the first martyrs liv- 
ing witnesses have sprung up to bear their testi- 
mony to the fact that Jesus Christ is the Son of the 
living God. Neither can death itself rob the Chris- 
tian of his blessed hope, but it merges that hope 
into the higher and purer life of realization and 
disappoints him only inasmuch as it places him in 
actual and sure possession of infinitely more than 
he hoped for. 

Glory be to God for such a foundation of such 
a blessed hope as this is. Well might Paul say: 
"For me to die is gain." 

I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom 
of Heaven. This is a highly metaphorical expres- 
sion ,and the primary significance of kingdom of 
Heaven is the Visible Church. Now, here our Sa- 
viour uses a beautiful metaphor drawn from a com- 
mon custom in Eastern countries, namely, that of 
a steward carrying a key as a sign or token of the 
office which he held in the establishment. This, 
therefore, means that he gave Peter the office of 
steward in His church with a commission to un- 
lock the door of the same to the world, not to the 



372 The Words of Faith. 

Jew only, but to the utter astonishment of the be- 
lieving Jewish Christians, to the Gentile also, which 
key Peter used in both instances, notwithstanding 
Paul was /soon after caled to build upon this founda- 
tion. The power of binding or losing now conferred 
on Peter was afterward conferred on all the apostles 
(see 18th chapter and 18th verse), so that Peter has 
no pre-eminence over the other apostles in this re- 
spect. But Peter did have the honor peculiar to 
himself of unlocking the door of the church to the 
world. 

The question is now, What is the power of 
binding and loosing? Is it a power conferred on 
the Pope alone, in virtue of that ecclesiastical suc- 
cession which he claims from Peter? Impossible, 
even if that absurd notion of apostolic succession 
admitted of demonstration or proof, which it does 
not. Impossible because the other apostles en- 
joyed the same power. Consequently their ecclesi- 
astical successors (if they had any) enjoy the same 
privilege as the Pope. I have no doubt in my own 
mind but this much talked about power is the power 
to declare unto the people the terms upon which 
God will pardon their sins and the consequences of 
remaining in impenitent unbelief. 

And to bind and loose is of the same meta- 
phorical nature as the keys. In fact, it is a con- 
tinuation of the same metaphor, for keys are used 
for that very purpose. But there is a sense in which 
the apostles were invested with certain powers on 
the day of Pentecost which were peculiar to them- 
selves and which they could not communicate to 



The Words of Faith. 373 

other parties. We have a long list of these powers 
contained in the 4th and six following verses of the 
12th chapter of the first epistle of Paul to the Cor- 
inthians. A great many of these gifts were special 
to those present upon this occasion, and it is very- 
certain the church does not possess them to-day, 
not even the Pope. But these are the very gifts 
which rendered their teachings and decisions in- 
fallible. Now, where does the Pope get his infalli- 
bility from? Can anybody see? I confess I cannot. 
But Peter and the other apostles possessing the 
power to discern spirits could on certain occasions 
read the thoughts of the heart and the spiritual 
workings of the mind, and this enabled them to de- 
clare with authority and infallibility those who were 
released from the bonds of their sins and those who 
were still bound by the same, and their declarations 
would always be ratified in Heaven. I am so thank- 
ful to our beloved Redeemer that He conferred 
these special honors on His apostles, for by so do- 
ing He has conferred a lasting blessing on His 
church in all ages. There is nothing in the teaching 
of these holy men that admits even of a doubt, 
seeing they were inspired by the Holy Ghost to 
communicate the information they taught. But the 
power to work miracles, to speak with tongues 
without learning, and to discern spirits being no 
longer necessary to convince the mind that the 
truths taught in the gospel are really and truly di- 
vine, have ceased to belong to the church militant. 
In the acts of the apostles we find the first preach- 
ers of the gospel had many occasions for using these 



374 The Words of Faith. 

gifts. See Acts, 8 123, also 7th. Again, Acts, 5 13. 
But it is quite evident that Peter did not always 
possess this power. 

Now, from all these statements of scriptural 
facts I cannot see any authority for inserting into 
the liturgy of the Church of England these words : 
"And hath given power and commandment unto 
His ministers to declare and pronounce unto His 
people, being penitent, the absolution and remis- 
sion of their sins." Neither can I see any authority 
for all this jingling of the keys down through the 
ages in certain quarters of Christendom. I am glad 
that the Protestant churches are exempt from these 
absurd relics of superstition. But these powers 
communicated to the apostles and disciples by our 
Saviour on the event of His ascension were con- 
firmed to them on the day of Pentecost. 

A few more thoughts on this subject and we 
wil dispense with it. In these words of our Lord 
to Peter: "Flesh and Blood hath not revealed this 
unto thee, but my Father which is in Heaven. " We 
certainly have conclusive evidence of the genuine- 
ness of Peter's conversion previous to his fall in the 
denial of Christ, for they prove his conversion at 
this time to be more than a temporary change from 
a low to a high moral standard. They prove that 
Peter was begotten again by the Holy Ghost, for 
it was the faith which was of the operation of God 
that Peter confessed, for it was revealed unto him 
by the Holy Ghost that Jesus was the Son of the 
living God, and Peter's confession of this faith in 



The Words of Faith. 375 

his answer to our Lord's question completed the 
contract. For with the heart man believeth unto 
righteousness, and with the mouth confession is 
made unto salvation. Peter was blessed with sav- 
ing faith. Had he died then his soul would have 
gone to Paradise. But where would it have gone 
had he died in the act of cursing and denying 
Christ? Let our opponents to this view of this sub- 
ject answer this question or prove that Peter was 
not blest with that saving faith that Jesus Christ 
declared he was. 



376 The Words of Faith. 



REMARKS ON FINAL PERSEVERANCE UN- 
CONDITIONAL—CHRISTIAN PERFEC- 
TION AS TAUGHT BY CHRIST- 
TEACHINGS OF THE AD- 
VENTISTS. 



On Final Perseverance. 

So far as we know and believe, the term "per- 
severance" occurs but once in the authorized Eng- 
lish version of the Old and New Testament, and 
the meaning of it in this place appears to be this. 
Having commenced in the course of duty here laid 
down, that is, praying always with all prayer and 
supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto 
(with all perseverance). That is, we are to con- 
tinue to do these things until death removes us 
from the church militant to the church triumphant. 
This is my understanding of the meaning of the 
words "With all perseverance," and to do this as a 
means of safety." Ephesians, 6:18. 

This is conditional, not unconditional, perse- 
verance. Now conditional perseverance is taught 
in many parts of scripture, although the word per- 
severance occurs nowhere else. I refer you to the 
2nd of Peter, 1:5-11. Especially the 10th and nth 
verses. Be diligent in your performance of these 
duties to make your calling and election sure. This 
is the only perseverance of the saints taught by di- 
vine authority. 

I have no doubt that when a soul is begotten 



The Words of Faith. 377 

again by the Holy Ghost at the new birth, and 
planted in Christ, or buried with Christ in baptism, 
it is the design of the Holy Spirit that he should 
remain there ; take root and grow up into Christ, 
his living head. Neither do I doubt that salvation 
in Christ is absolute or unconditional, and out of 
Christ impossible. 

But the questions are: First, Is man capable, 
or is he not capable of frustrating God's designs? 

Second, Can I retain my union with Christ and 
live in known sin? 

Third, Is it possible to live in vital union with 
Christ and by our own voluntary acts of disobedi- 
ence, or sin, to quench the Spirit whereby we are 
sealed to the day of redemption, and thereby sever 
our union with Christ, and like the unfruitful 
branch, when severed from the vine to die and be 
consigned to the fire? 

Now, all three of these questions hinge directly 
upon the question of man's free moral agency. 

God either did, or He did not, create man a 
free moral agent. There is no medium ground here. 
If he did not, neither sin nor death has ever en- 
tered our world, because in this case man was in- 
capable of frustrating God's design or running coun- 
ter to His will, as he could not resist any foreign 
motive power brought to bear upon his mind. 
Therefore, God knew the inevitable result of satanic 
influence when brought to bear upon the mind of 
Adam. Now, if sin is the transgression of divine 
law, and that law originated in the divine mind, 
and that mind exercised irresistible control over 



378 The Words of Faith. 

man's mind, man yielded to satanic influence, in ac- 
cordance with God's design. Now the facts in the 
case prove this is not so. 

Therefore, man was created a free moral agent, 
for how could he be responsible for that which he 
could not avoid? 

Second, Can a soul retain its union with Christ 
and live in known sin? Answer. Yes, if man's 
free moral agency ceases to exist at the new birth. 
But it does cease to exist or it remains in full 
force, for there is no medium ground here. 

If it does cease to exist, man is not responsible 
for his words, deeds or affections, because he has 
no control over them, and can only act as acted up- 
on. Therefore if he is in union with Christ these 
things cannot dissolve that union. 

But the Holy Ghost bears testimony to the 
contrary of all this. 

Therefore, man's free moral agency runs par- 
allel to his state of probation, and terminates only 
in death ; and this view of the matter accords with 
the Holy Scripture : 

"Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give 
thee a crown of life." — Rev. 2:10. 

"Hold fast that which thou hast, that no man 
take thy crown." — Rev., 3:11. 

Superfluous language, if it is impossible to be un- 
faithful unto death, and finally to lose the crown of 
life. 

Again, it is possible to have our names written 
in the Book of Life, and have them blotted out 
again, Rev., 3d and part of 5th verse. The 



The Words of Faith. 379 

the lamps of the five foolish virgins had been lighted 
or they could not have gone out ; but the foolish vir- 
gins were excluded from the feast. Paul says, "We 
are not of those who draw back unto perdition." 
Jesus says to His disciples, "Ye are the salt of the 
earth, but if the salt hath lost its savor it is good 
for nothing but to be trod under foot." Again, un- 
der the figure of the vine, Jesus says, in John, the 
fifteenth chapter and fourth, fifth and sixth verses, 
that we can not bear fruit out of Him, and if any 
abide not in Him he is cast forth as a branch and 
burned. Now this is the final outcome of separation 
from Christ. 

Christ further says, no man can serve two mas- 
ters. Paul says, "Know ye not that His servants ye 
are, to whom ye obey." It is therefore clear, from 
these arguments, as well as from the ninth verse 
of the third chapter of the First Epistle of John: 
"We cannot sin in Christ, but the act of wilful sin 
constitutes the step out of Christ and the favor and 
love of God." 

"Whosoever is born of God (the verb "is" be- 
ing in the present tense, not in the past tense, "hath 
been") doth not commit sin, for his seed remaineth 
in him (that is, while he remains a child of God)." 
We are frail creatures. St. John says, "If we say 
that we have no sin we deceive ourselves." Again, 
"If any man sin we have an advocate with the 
Father, Jesus Christ." Thank God for this. 

St. Paul isays there is a sin, unto death, and 
there is a sin, not unto death. Quench not the spirit. 
Now this is undoubtedly the sin unto death, and 



380 The Words of Faith. 

there is much more danger of committing this un- 
pardonable sin than many suppose, for God says His 
spirit shall not always strive with us, and whenever 
He takes His final departure our doom is fixed, even 
if we should live for- fifty years afterward. 

Hence, our Lord's prayer for Peter previous to 
his fall, proves that Peter's faith was genuine, and, 
while Peter's subsequent condition proves his tem- 
porary severance from Christ, the sequel proves 
that Christ's prayer was answered. Peter's faith 
did not utterly fail, he was saved from committing 
the sin unto death, or quenching the spirit, but it 
was not the faith that Peter had previous to his 
fall, for had he died in the act of denying Christ he 
would have undoubtedly gone to hell, but it was 
faith designed for Peter, reserved by God in the ar- 
chives of the Holy Ghost, to be supplied upon 
Peter's repentance. And the look of Christ; oh, that 
look brought him to repentance. 



The Pardonability of Sin Depends Upon the Rela- 
tion of the Sinner to the Holy Ghost. 
It is not the exceeding sinfulness of any sin 
that renders that sin unpardonable, "For the blood 
of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin." 
But in order to experience this cleansing, it is nec- 
essary that the efficacious remedy be applied by the 
Spirit of God to the guilty soul of the sinner, which 
application begets in that soul the "faith which is of 
the operation of God." Now if the Spirit is, either 
at the committing of that sin or hath been on any 



The Words of Faith, 381 

previous occasion rejected or insulted, in spite of 
the holy influences He exerted on the soul, and He 
withdraws those influences and takes His final de- 
parture, there is no hope for that sinner, for, "No 
man can come to Jesus except God draws him by 
His Spirit." To this truth our Savious alludes when 
He says, "Whosoever speaketh against the Holy 
Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, etc., etc." This 
is especially so in the present age, or the dispen- 
sation of the spirit which Christ promised to sup- 
ply the place of His bodily absence on earth : 

Woe be unto those forsaken by this Holy Com- 
forter. We trifle with the Holy Ghost at our peril. 
We have an awful illustration of this truth in the 
case of Ananias. 

As to the miner failings, shortcomings or sins 
of ignorance of Christians Christ says: "He that 
is washed (that is by the washing of regeneration) 
needeth not to wash, save his feet," that is by a 
constant exercise of humble trust in the cleansing 
efficacy of the blood of Christ, to experience a con- 
stant cleansing from the defilement of these things 
it is evident Christ spake of the washing of regen- 
eration, for He said to His disciples : :" Ye are 
washed, but not all," evidently referring to Judas. 
Here is the criterion by which we may ascertain 
our true position in the kingdom of Christ. Rom. 
8:14, "For as many as are led by the Spirit of 
God, they are the sons of God." (The Spirit never 
leads us into sin.) Again in the 38th and 39th 
verses of the same chapter we have proof of the 
possibility of final apostacy negatively, for sin is 



382 The Words of Faith. 

manifestly excepted, it not being a creature, and the 
love of God is only in Christ Jesus. Again positive- 
ly in Matthew, 8th chapter, and from the 21st verse 
to the end of the chapter. Here we find that the 
Lord, or great man, Torgave His servant the enor- 
mous debt of 10,000 talents fully and freely, but 
when that servant went out, free from his load of 
debt and was so unkind to his fellow servant, his 
Lord was wrath and delivered him to the torment- 
ors till he should pay all that was due unto him. 
Christ says, "So likewise shall my Heavenly Father 
do also unto you/' etc., etc., etc. Christ's sheep shall 
never perish, but if we change our relation to Christ 
from that of a sheep to that of a goat by forsaking 
Him, He will forsake us, and, depend upon it, we 
shall perish, for in Him alone we have eternal life. 
Amen. 



The Words of Faith. 383 



ON THE SABBATH DAY. 



"In the beginning God created the Heavens and 
the Earth." Genesis 1:1. 

The sacred historian does not inform us when 
that beginning was. Neither has God informed us 
in any other portion of His word, but that this fact 
of the exact date of the beginning must be incon- 
trovertibly demonstrated before we can determine 
which day of our week is the seventh from this be- 
ginning or first day is obvious to every sane mind, 
and to support this position further arguments are 
superfluous, because it is a self-evident fact. But 
you have got to determine (from some known fixed 
date) when this beginning or first day was before 
you can prove when the seventh day from this be- 
ginning or first day is. Otherwise, all your argu- 
ments to prove our Saturday, or the ancient Jewish 
Sabbath, is the seventh from this point are like so 
many castles built in the air, having no foundation, 
either theological or scientific. Of course, you ad- 
here to the former, and claim the Holy Bible teaches 
you, but it utterly fails to do so, except you prove 
when the first day of the first week was. You know 
.that this account of the creation was revealed by 
God unto the historian. It is therefore useless to 
search for it in any other portion of God's word 
(except there had been a subsequent revelation, 
which there was not). Because the fact there nar- 
rated antedates the creation of man. We know but 



384 The Words of Faith. 

little about the creation, but what little we do know 
is vast in its nature, but condensed into a very small 
space. Now turn to the 20th chapter, 8th, 9th, 10th 
and nth verses of Exodus. This command you 
claim to be the foundation of your faith for keeping 
Saturday, and so it is of my faith for keeping Sun- 
day, for this command, like God who issued it, is 
immutable, and is in full force as much now as 
when first given to the Israelites. 

But you say, how is it possible that I can keep 
Saturday and you keep Sunday, and yet both keep 
the Sabbath day inviolate? And yet nothing can 
be more possible. Still, it would be better to have 
uniformity. Nevertheless, I work six days and rest 
the seventh, and you only do the same thing. The 
truth is, God hallowed the seventh part of time 
without fixing the first day from which to count 
the seventh day. But although the Jew is left in 
uncertainty, without any fixed data from which to 
count his seventh day, the Christian has a fixed 
data, and it is the only one afforded in the word 
of God, for there being no manna on one day .out 
of seven does not prove that this was the anni- 
versary of the seventh day from the first day of 
creation. It only proves that this was the seventh 
part of time. But the resurrection of Christ, which 
completed the great and painful work of redemp- 
tion, was indeed, a glorious rest from this great 
and painful work. For the same Almighty being 
that created the universe redeemed man, and the 
sons of God, or angels, that shouted for joy at the 
first work, sang praises to God for the second work. 



The Words of Faith. 385 

Now, the Jew does not believe in the divinity 
of Christ, or in the fact of His resurrection from 
the dead, but how a Christian who professes to be- 
lieve both can refuse to hallow the Christian Sab- 
bath, and adhere to the Jewish Sabbath is more 
than I or any other true Christian can tell, except 
it be that the same spirit of anti-Christ is crept into 
a sect in this Nineteenth Century that prevailed in 
the Judaizing teachers of St. Paul's time. It is cer- 
tainly treating our Saviour very coolly, to say the 
least. 

Heb. 10 :i, "For the law having a shadow of 
good things to come," etc., etc. 

The services and ordinances of the ancient 
Jewish church were ordained by God to be typical 
of the richer blessings of divine grace, of the Chris- 
tian dispensation in the spiritual kingdom of Christ. 
I do not say in the Visible Church, for that king- 
dom is not confined to that. Neither do I say the 
whole law of the Ten Commandments was typical, 
for they are to a certain extent absolute and will 
be in force till the end of time. But the Levitical 
law was typical, and so was marriage and the Sab- 
bath day, while the law for observing and keeping 
both is absolute and immutable. Now, then, God 
commanded the Jews to keep the seventh day holy, 
etc., etc., for just reasons which He gives, and in 
the Levitical law they were commanded to keep 
the seventh year holy, that is, the seventh part of 
time. Leviticus 20th chapter. Also the fiftieth 
year, which was the grandest jubilee and the most 
complete rest of all. 



386 The Words of Faith. 

Now, why was this change made? For they 
skipped the forty-ninth year, which was the regular 
Sabbatical or seventh year, and leaped over it, omit- 
ting to keep it sacred, but kept the first year of an- 
other week of years. Why, I say, was this, if it 
was not designed to be a type of our glorious Chris- 
tian Sabbath? 

In connection with this subject our Saviour 
speaks of a first Sabbath and a second Sabbath 
after the first when His disciples were accused of 
Sabbath breaking by the Jews. This change does 
not alter the moral principle involved in keeping 
the Sabbath inthe least, which consists not in keep- 
ing the first, the seventh or the middle day of the 
week, but in employing a seventh part of our time 
in the service and worship of God. Some further 
proofs are the disciples set apart the first day of 
the week for their religious meetings. On that flay 
they came together to break bread and celebrate 
the Lord's supper. The example of the inspired 
apostles clothes us with sufficient authority for 
keeping the first day of the week in place of the 
seventh. Hence, Paul informed the Gentile con- 
verts at Colosse that the Jewish converts had no 
right to judge them in respect "of Sabbath days/' 
This proves that these two classes of converts kept 
the Sabbath on two different days. But you claim 
that one of the Popes of Rome changed the Sab- 
bath from the seventh to the first day of the week. 
This is true, but it is not the whole truth, and this 
is where the delusion gets into the minds of those 
who fail to weigh the matter fairly, for in that 



The Words of Faith. 387 

age of the world people were keeping the Sabbath, 
in a loose way, nearly every day of the week, hence 
confusion and discord prevailed in the church, there 
being no date from which to reckon the seventh 
day from the first. This was undoubtedly a wise 
act, and the Pope was undoubtedly under the spe- 
cial guidance of God to do this very thing, for God 
sometimes overrules the actions of bad men to ac- 
complish His own designs. 

Jesus Christ is Lord over the Sabbath, and He 
says the Sabbath was made for man, and not man 
for the Sabbath, that is, for one day of rest for 
man after his six days of labor, even as He, Jesus 
Christ, rested after His first work of creation and 
after his second work of redemption. But as the 
second work of redemption was not completed when 
the command was delivered at Sinai, the Jewish 
Sabbath has reference to creation until Christ, the 
great anti-type, came and set it aside by completing 
the work of redepmtion on the first day of the week. 

As I said, the command to hallow the Sabbath 
is in full force now, and this Sabbath is the seventh 
day after six days of labor. In point of fact, each 
individual might count his seventh day from the 
day of his birth and hallow this day and he Avould 
keep the law of the Sabbath inviolate as much as 
any Advent or Jew in existence. But I do not say 
as much as any who keep the Christian Sabbath. 

Query : Did St. Paul have any idea that in 
the Nineteenth Century a sect would arise to propa- 
gate the very errors he complained so much about 
in his day? 



388 The Words of Faith, 

"Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law r 
do ye not hear the law," etc., etc. There is a law 
of conscience to govern every man. What is sin 
to one is not always sin to another. 

By a careful examination of the facts expressed 
and demonstrated in the previous remarks, it is easy 
to perceive the beauty and force of our Lord's an- 
swer to the question. Which is the great command- 
ment in the law? 



RECAPITULATION. 

Matthew, 5:17, 17:18. "Think not that I am 
come to destroy the law/' e'tc. Again, the 13th 
verse of the nth chapter of Matthew: 
"The law and prophets prophesied until John/* 
etc. That is, they taught the people, typically and 
prophetically, to prepare them for His coming who 
was the end of the law to all who believe in Him, 
for He was the anti-type prefigured by these things, 
for even their "Sabbath days were a shadow of 
things to come." 2nd Col., part of 16th and 17th 
verses, for John was the prophetic Elias, the con- 
necting link between the typical dispensation of the 
law and the gospel dispensation which is called by 
Christ the kingdom of Heaven. John was greater 
than a prophet, but the least in the kingdom of 
Heaven was greater than he. The law includes 
the moral code contained in the Ten Command- 
ments. 

Question : Who gave or made these command- 



The Words of Faith. 389 

ments? Answer: God delivered them to Moses 
on the Mount. Now, listen to what Jesus Christ 
said: "He that hath seen me, hath seen the Fath- 
er." "I and my Father are one." Hear, O, Israel, 
the Lord, our God, is one Lord. Then, Christ in 
connection with the Father and the Holy Ghost 
is the fountain of the Ten Commandments. He 
who was the Creator alone had the right to make 
laws to govern His creatures. Therefore,, Christ 
is the law giver as well as the Creator and the Re- 
deemer. Matthew, xii:8, "For the Son of Man is 
Lord, even of the Sabbath day." But in what way 
did Christ fulfill (that is) obey His own law? First, 
He did it perfectly for an example to us. Certainly 
not in the letter, for that killeth, but in the spirit, 
for that gives life. Now hear what He says of His 
own laws : "He that hateth his brother is a mur- 
derer." (If he takes no human life.) "Whoso look- 
eth upon a woman to lust after her hath committed 
adultery with her," etc., etc. The Sabbath was 
made for man, and not man for the Sabbath ; that is, 
that man might enjoy a rest of cessation from labor, 
"as I (Christ) did after my first work of creation." 
But did Christ change the day. He did, or He could 
not possibly have fulfilled the law. (That is, the 
moral code and the Levitical law, prophesied until 
John the Baptist, and then their prophetical and 
typical uses ended, being superseded by the pres- 
ence of the anti-type.) Hence, Christ rose from the 
dead on the day after the typical or Jewish Sabbath, 
which was the first day of the incoming week, in- 
stead of the last day of the week just ended, which 



390 The Words of Faith. 

also ended the legal and Levitical dispensation and 
opened up the new or Christian dispensation. This 
stupendous act of raising His own human body from 
the dead completed His second and grandest work 
of redemption by a glorious triumph over death in 
all its forms, as well as sin and Satan. Therefore, 
the Christian Sabbath or first day is the antitype,, 
prefigured by the old Jewish Sabbath, and this last, 
or Jewish Sabbath, being a type of the rest en- 
joyed by God's people in the Christian dispensation 
necessarily ended when that dispensation arrived. 
Hence, this change was absolutely necessary, and 
yet the law for keeping a Sabbath is perpetual. 
These are facts that cannot be overthrown. 

But did Christ change the Sabbath from the 
seventh day to the day following? He undoubtedly 
did, or He could not possibly have established the 
law, because the Sabbath was unto this time a 
type, and when the antitype arrived the type neces- 
sarily ended, being superseded by the existence of 
the fact of which it was a shadow. 

I regard the existence of the sect calling them- 
selves Adventists as the beginning of the last great 
contest between Judaism and Christianity, and in 
this struggle for supremacy Satan, who is the in- 
stigator of all evil, takes a hand. And in order to 
obtain every advantage possible for him in the 
grand contest, he assumes his favorite garb, which 
is that of an angel of light. Encouraged by former 
successes, he may hope for success here, but as sure 
as God liveth, he will be vanquished this time, and 
his deceitful light ("If the light that is in thee be 



The Words of Faith. 391 

darkness, how great is that darkness.'') evolving 
from the heretical doctrines taught by the Advent- 
ists will be extinguished forever by the glorious 
light emanating from the sun of righteousness in 
the center of the true evangelical church of Christ. 
Read the nth chapter of Romans. Now read the 
first nine verses of the 13th chapter of Romans, par- 
ticularly the 9th verse, and if anything can be 
proved by the scripture, this proves that the Jews, 
as a body, will eventually embrace Christianity and 
give up their shadowy law for the substance of 
Christ, but not until the fullness of the Gentiles 
be come in. Ezekiel says God will sprinkle them 
with clean water, and give them a new heart — that 
is, they shall be received into the Visible Church 
on earth by being sprinkled with clean water in 
allusion to the blood of the Paschal Lamb and the 
water of purification, the first typifying the blood 
of Christ and the second the ordinance of Christian 
baptism, which mode of baptism is the true and 
only symbol of Holy Ghost baptism, having the 
same meaning as the specific Hebrew word Tabal, 
translated into the generic Greek word, Baptisdo, 
because the heathen Greek had no word in their 
language which meant purification from sin, and 
Baptisdo. meaning cleansing from filth with water 
came the nearest. 

At this present time, July, 1896, Turkey in 
Europe, nearly all Asia and Africa and many other 
parts of the world are outside the nominal Chris- 
tian church. Daniel's little stone has become a 
great mountain, but it has not yet filled the whole 



392 The Words of Faith. 

world. Paganism, Mohammedanism and the beast 
still occupy by far the larger portion of it, but the 
little stone still has one hundred years to grow in. 
These will be eventful years, the magnitude and im- 
portance of which events will eclipse the events of 
the Nineteenth Century and render them not worth 
remembering. God has always hallowed the sev- 
enth part of time and according to the chronology 
of the scriptures, a litle before the end of the year 
A. D. 2000 the Sabbatical thousands year of the age 
of the human family will begin, and I expect about 
this time the Millennium will be ushered in by the 
raising of the Christian martyrs from the dead to 
live with Christ on this earth for the thousand 
years which will constitute what we call the Mil- 
lennium. Calculation: 4004 plus 1896 equals 5900, 
which plus 100 years equals 6000. And if this is so, 
is it not reasonable that a flood of light will be 
poured upon what seems to be obscure portions of 
revelation. Now then there is yet ample time for 
all the nations of the earth to embrace Christianity, 
and the Jews to follow close in their wake, so that 
during the Millennium righteousness will cover the 
earth as the waters do the great deep. 

But as to the final dissolution of this world no 
man knoweth, or angel, but God only. 

Another false doctrine of the Adventist is, the 
human soul is not immortal. Consequently future 
punishments are not everlasting in its true mean- 
ing, but only for a fixed period of time. If the pun- 
ishment of the lost will not endure throughout the 
future ages of eternity, neither will the reward of 



The Words of Faith. 393 

the righteous. In Matthew, 18:8, 19:29, the same 
words are used in both cases and in relation to both 
characters, and where our Lord uses the words 
"everlasting punishment for the wicked" and "life 
eternal for the just," it is an equaly correct defini- 
tion. For the life enjoyed by the redeemed in Heav- 
en, being in Christ never had a beginning, and is 
strictly eternal, whereas the lake of fire was pre- 
pared for the devil and his angels. Therefore is 
not eternal, as it regards the past, but coeval with 
eternity in reference to the future. 

Again, everlasting punishment in the lake of 
fire was not originally intended for men and women, 
but for fallen spirits. God damned no man, but 
man does this terrible work for himself. Revelation, 
14:11. "The smoke of their torments ascendeth up 
forever and ever." Again in the 15th chapter and 
7th verse, "God, who liveth forever and ever," so 
that the duration of hell torments equal in dura- 
tion the life of God, and if the punishment is only 
for age or ages, neither is God's life, and the infidel 
is correct, for God has long ceased to have an ex- 
istence. But, glory be to God, this is not so, and 
the Adventists are bound to be radically and fatally 
wrong. 

As to the trinity in the Godhead in the work 
of atonement, which the Adventists deny, if they 
are correct, Gabriel, the angel, made a mistake, for 
he says : "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, 
and the power of the Highest shall overshadow 
thee," etc., etc., and Christ, when He commissioned 
His disciples to baptize all nations in the name of 



394 The Words of Faith. 

the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, also 
made a mistake. The truth is that while the human 
nature of Christ expired on the cross, the divine 
nature experienced the bitter pains of eternal death 
in such a manner as none but God could experience. 
The sacrifice was both human and divine. 

Texts which prove the punishment of the im- 
penitent sinner after this life have no end. Mark, 
3 129, "is in danger of eternal damnation.'' Again, 
Jude, in the 7th verse, "suffering the vengeance of 
eternal fire." Now it is quite impossible to use 
stronger language to express the infinite duration 
of hell torments, as the word "eternal" is never put 
for age, or ages. Nevertheless, it is quite clear 
that in these cases the word eternal must be taken 
with this limitation, namely, that it refers to the 
future only, and not to the past, and is therefore 
equivalent to Matthew, 18:8, "be cast into everlast- 
ing fire." Also in Matthew 25 146, "These shall go 
away into everlasting punishment." Now, it is quite 
obvious that the damnation has a beginning, and 
so has the fire, for it was prepared for the Devil and 
his angels, but the word everlasting in the last text 
refers to the punishment of individuals themselves. 



The Words of Faith. 395 



EXPERIMENTAL RELIGION. 



Matthew,7 121-23: "Not everyone that saith un- 
to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of 
Heaven," etc., etc. 

It is quite obvious to every candid reader of the 
New Testament that the phrase, kingdom of 
Heaven embraces the kingdoms of Grace and Glory, 
but has no reference whatever to the Visible Church 
or churches, which consists of all grades of pro- 
fessors of faith in Christ as the promised Messiah, 
for Christ well knew that countless millions of the 
class He describes as saying Lord, Lord, would 
get into these societies. It is certain from the whole 
tenor of scripture that has any bearing upon the 
point in question, which is true Christianity, or ex- 
perimental religion, that this is not a theory, pure 
and simple, but an invincible, self-evident fact, the 
evidences of which can be seen by man, the fact 
itself being concealed from mortal ken,. is seen only 
by God. "The wind bloweth where it listeth. Thou 
hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence 
it cometh, etc., etc., so is every one that is born of 
the Spirit." Also, "By their fruits ye shall know 
them," etc., etc. And as these evidences are so 
nearly allied to a confession of faith- in Jesus Christ, 
as the Son of God, succeeded by baptism, and a re- 
formed outward life in conformity with the cere- 
monial rules and ordinances of the Visible Church, 
that a bare compliance with these rules, without 



396 The Words of Faith. 

any work of God's spirit in the soul, the latter is 
frequently mistaken for the real work of grace in 
the individual, which constitutes him a veritable 
new creature in Christ, with whom all things are 
become new. The old Adam in his soul is dead, 
and Christ has resumed his rightful place in his 
affections, which had been usurped by Satan while 
he was under the condemnation of a broken law. 
But as I have already observed, God, who alone is 
perfectly acquainted with the secrets of man's inner 
or higher nature, is also acquainted with the secret 
workings of His own Spirit in man's higher nature 
which produces this internal reformation of man's 
inner life, as well as his outer or moral life by which 
he is known to his fellow man. And I intend to 
prove that there is such a thing as experimental 
religion, and that there can be no true piety with- 
out an experience. 

Question: What is religion? Answer: It is 
the "love of God, or God's love shed abroad in the 
heart by the Holy Ghost given unto us." 

It is therefore only after this great work of 
the Holy Ghost that we can obey the command, 
which is the greatest of all commands, by an act of 
reciprocity, for we cannot love God before we taste 
His love in our own souls, and so love becomes the 
fulfillment of the law. In and through the new 
birth alone can we love the Lord, our God, with 
all our heart and soul and mind and strength. 
Neither can we obey any other law in the moral 
code or in the church of Christ correctly without 
first obeying this law, for obedience will not pro- 



The Words of Faith. 397 

ceed from love and therefore cannot be acceptable 
to God. Yet it is an indisputable fact that the 
conditions of membership in some branches of the 
Christian church can, and have in innumerable in- 
stances, been complied with, and yet this all im- 
portant command has not been obeyed, because 
it is impossible to obey it without an experimental 
demonstration of the fact. 

Can we love any person and not know it in 
the secret depths of our own hearts, even if we 
carefully avoid any external show of our secret 
affections? Answer: Such a thing is an absolute 
impossibility. These arguments prove, first, that 
(not all) that has the outward appearance of relig- 
ion proceeds from true Christian piety. Second, they 
prove that it is impossible to exercise saving faith 
in Jesus Christ without producing true Christian 
piety. Third, they prove it is impossible to have 
true Christian piety and not know it bv a happy ex- 
perience. And this proof is the test of our faith, 
for if our faith does not result in these issues it js 
not saving, but spurious, for the experience is the 
actual fruit of the faith that saves the soul by the 
grace of God, and a faith without this, such a^ a 
person may have while under the influences of 
the carnal mind, is spurious, not saving, but as dead 
as the faith that is unproductive of a moral life. 

The witness of God's Spirit is the evidence to 
the believer's own mind of the blessed change 
wrought in his soul by these graces of the Spirit, 
while a holy life of conformity with the teachings 
of our Lord and His apostles is the evidence to 



398 The Words of Faith. 

the world of the genuineness of His profession as 
a Christian. Neither one of these results can be 
discarded without ruining the other and rendering 
our faith futile and our life a failure. Think on 
these things, ye careless Christian professors, and 
all ye that imagine that to be in union with some 
branch of the Visible church and live a good moral 
life will save you from condemnation when you 
come to stand before God in judgment. Let me en- 
treat you to think of it before it is forever too late. 
"Quench not the Spirit whereby ye are sealed to 
the day of redemption. " Yes, it is the work of the 
Spirit to set His seal on your souls, and to apply 
the precious blood of Christ, to dethrone Satan and 
cleanse you from all sin, stamping the image of 
Christ upon the inner man.. 

I know all true Christians indorse my view 
of this subject, and I know if you search the scrip- 
tures you will find they sustain my argument. 

Acts, 3d chapter and 19th verse. These 
words were addressed to the Jews, soon 
after they had crucified Jesus Christ, by 
Peter: "Repent first, and then be, converted 
when the times of refreshing shall come from the 
presence of the Lord." That is, when Jesus pours 
out of His spirit upon you according to His prom- 
ise. Yield to the drawing of that spirit and submit 
to be converted to a new faith. Again, in the con- 
version of Saul we find that the work of conviction 
took place first and the real change of heart and 
life expressed in the word conversion took place 
before baptism, by which he was received into the 



The Words of Faith. 399 

church. But I will not exhaust your patience by 
quoting the innumerable, passages of scripture that 
sustain my arguments. But our text goes on to 
say : "Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, 
have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy 
name have cast out devils," etc., etc. 

Now, this proves just what thousands experi- 
ence, namely, that it is quite possible to preach the 
gospel to others, and yet to be completely ignorant 
of its saving effect upon our own hearts. I will 
now give you an illustration of this truth in the 
shape of a modern historical fact that has a direct 
bearing upon this, our closing assertion. 

This is an extract from a true history of an 
event that actually took place a few years ago in 
England. 

A congregation were dispersing from the door 
of the village church. Some passed quietly home- 
ward. Others waited for a minute's chat with 
friends and neighbors under the shade of the old 
trees, when a voice called to a gentleman near by, 
"Come and lunch at the castle, Mr. Vivyan. You 
say cannot. Then join our party to the cathedral 
this afternoon." (Here I omit to record some un- 
necessary superfluities and pass on to observe Mr. 
Vivyan declined all further invitations and was 
soon on his way home) into the deep shades of 
his own parks and down the broad wastes of heather 
to where the sea dashes. Charles Vivyan wandered 
on hour after hour, as though some haunting spirit 
suffered him not to rest. And what are the words 
that ring through his brain and pursue him from 



400 The Words of Faith. 

scene to scene? They are the words of the text, 
which had that day formed the preacher's mess- 
age : "Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a man 
be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." 

How strange that words so well known should 
suddenly have power to raise a tempest in his soul ! 
But though the words were familiar, the meaning 
was new. If this announcement is for all, then it 
is for me, was the thought that haunted him. Never 
before had these words penetrated so deep into his 
mind, and yet it was a very quiet discourse that 
Vivyan had heard. There had been no bursts of 
eloquence to captivate the imagination; no impas- 
sioned appeals to arouse the feelings. It was a 
scholar-like composition, its theology clear and 
scriptural, its arguments strong and convincing. It 
was no sudden enthusiasm or excitement that Vivy- 
an's mind had caught. The words of the text had 
fastened on his attention, and as he listened to the 
clear, calm reasoning that fallowed he became more 
and more deeply convinced of their truth, and while 
wrapped in thought he said: "How clearly, how 
convincingly Mr. Langsdale (the preacher) proved 
the necessity of regeneration! And if it be essen- 
tial for all, it must be essential for me. There is 
no use deceiving myself. I had best look the truth 
in the face at once, for most certainly I have never 
known any such wonderful transformation. 

"They talk of baptism and education, but com- 
mon sense, as well as an experimental acquaintance 
with these two desideratums teach us that they 
cannot effect this transformation. I suppose the 



The Words of Faith. 401 

thing may differ as to the sensible effect in differ- 
ent cases. Mr. Langsdale said in some cases it is- 
slowly progressive, in other cases more sudden. But 
one thing strikes me, that whenever or however 
the change takes place it is a real change, a change 
that introduces a man into a new state of things, 
and gives him a Spiritual sensibility, which I am 
quite certain I do not have. Every Sunday I at- 
tend church, go through the forms of worship, listen 
to the sermon, join in singing praise to God, indulge 
in a little friendly chat with the worshippers, and 
return home the same unchanged man, only that I 
am a little deeper in the mire of my sins than be- 
fore. We call upon God as our Father, and yet 
have no feeling toward him but that of awe, and 
except in church are utterly forgetful of His ex- 
istence. At least, I am. Now, if all that God's 
word teaches is true, this apathy on the subject of 
religion indicates some radical defect in one's own 
state. How amazing that the sublime subject o^f 
the atonement, so nearly connected with my eternal 
destiny, should so little occupy my attention. My 
mind is quite dead to these things in comparison 
with the lively interest which the things of this 
world excite upon it, short-lived as they are. But 
after all, I wonder who ever experienced this most 
wonderful transition. That's what I should like 
to know. If I could only see a person who would 
candidly and truthfully acknowledge to me that 
they had actually felt the renewing grace of God, 
and had really passed into a state very different 
from that of fallen nature, and were now in a state 



402 The Words of Faith. 

of grace and union with the Son of God, why, then 
I should believe it. Of course, being in the Bible, 
it must be true. Still, a thing seems so shadowy 
when you learn it only from a book. I should like 
to see it carried out. I should like to see a prac- 
tical example in real life, and as far as my observa- 
tion goes, I suspect it will not be easy to find one. 
Subsequently the Rev. Edward Langsdale was in 
hi*s study, closely engaged in the preparation of 
an elaborate essay on "Faith," when his servant 
entered with a note. It was from Vivyan inviting 
him to dine with him in the evening of the same 
day, and the minister rather reluctantly accepted 
the invitation, saying to himself, "What an evening 
I shall have ! There will be nothing congenial to 
refresh my weary brain. Vivyan is a noble fellow, 
but I fear his mind is run to waste. I have not a 
chance of anything better than the superficial chat 
of the dinner table. But what's all this," said Mr. 
Langsdale, on turning over the second page of 
Vivyan's note. "I have to apologize for offering 
you only my own company, but I am anxious for 
an opportunity of talking to you alone on a subject 
which greatly disturbs my mind." "Indeed, who 
would have thought of Vivyan's mind being dis- 
turbed about anything except his horses and dogs, 
and in this case I should be a miserable advisor, 
but what can it be? Well," he said at last, "if it is 
a knotty point in theology that puzzles his brain, 
he has applied to the right quarter at all events." 

A few hours after and they were both seated 
at the dinner table, the pale young clergyman con- 



The Words of Faith. 403 

versing on ordinary topics with scholarly grace, and 
the host cheerfully doing the honors of the hospita- 
ble board. At last the dessert and wine were on 
the table, the servants withdrew and they were 
alone. "Now for it," thought-Mr. Langsdale, every 
moment expecting that Vivyan with his usual frank- 
ness would enter upon the important subject. But 
not a word was spoken, and feeling the awkward- 
ness of the prolonged silence, Mr. Langsdale at last 
said: "You mentioned in your note that there was 
something you wished to talk over with me." "I 
am glad you asked me about it," said Vivyan, cor- 
dially. "I should never have been able to introduce 
it myself, anxious as I feel. Yes, Mr. Lansgdale, 
the subject of your sermon last Sunday morning 
has occupied my mind ever since, and I am ex- 
ceedingly anxious to discuss it further with you, if 
you will permit me." To which Mr. Langsdale re- 
plied: "Was there any point not clear to you, or 
in which you differ from my view?" "What I want 
to know is this," said Vivyan, with abrupt ve- 
hemence, "is it a real and practical thing?" "To 
what do you allude?" "To regeneration, or the new 
birth, spoken of in your text, and which you so 
clearly demonstrated to be all essential to salva- 
tion. I want to know whether this is a mere the- 
ory, a theological dream, or is it, as I said before, 
a real and actual change?" "Can you doubt it?" 
said Mr. Langsdale. "There are, indeed, those who 
speak of this change as a figure or bold orentalism, 
but the passage itself refutes this theory. The wor/ 
in the original has the force of 'born from abo? e,' 



404 The Words of Faith. 

as well as born again, which implies that th/» soul 
now enters a higher state of existence in union with 
Christ through the Eternal Spirit, and recovers its 
long lost sonship in the household of God. It is 
quite clear that no mere outward reformation or 
baptism ever endowed man with new powers of 
spiritual discernment, or, in the words of the scrip- 
ture, enabled him to see the kingdom of God. 
Again, the figure is repeatedly changed, but never 
weakened. It always expresses a complete transi- 
tion from- one state of existence to another. For 
instance, it is called a passing from death unto 
life in John, 5:24, from darkness to light in Acts, 
26:18, a translation from the kingdom of Satan to 
that of Christ in Cols., 1 113. And the figure of the 
resurrceion is often used to illustrate the greatness 
of the change and its life-giving power to the soul. 
See Romans, 6:4, Eph., 2:1, Col., 3:1.- I cannot 
imagine how in the face of such a mass of scriptural 
evidence anyone can attempt to support an opposite 
theory." "And how does it take place ?" Vivyan 
asked, with intense interest. 

Mr. Langsdale shrunk from such close dealing 
as this. Instantly his sensitive spirit felt keenly 
that it was experimental religion that was needed 
here, for theological skill was powerless to meet 
the cravings of an anxious soul. 

"There is some diversity of opinion among, the 
schoolmen," he began, but Vivyan hastily inter- 
rupted him. "Never mind the schoolmen. Books 
and theories are all a humbug when a man is 
anxious for his soul's salvation." Then, meeting 



The Words of Faith. 405 

a look of embarrassment, he added, "Excuse me, 
Mr. Langsdale. My soul is stirred to its deepest 
depths. Eternity is at stake and I am groping in 
darkness. Tell me, I implore you, who has really 
experienced this wonderful spiritual change? Is 
it a thing that actually takes place? In a word, 
have you — — ?" The table shook with the agitation 
of his strong frame, and his quivering lips refused 
to finish the sentence. But it needed not. He was 
answered in the ashy paleness that overspread his 
listener's face, and in a few moments with a look 
of anguish he turned away and buried it in his 
hands. Inexpressibly shocked and deeply reproach- 
ing himself for his inconsiderate abruptness, Vivyan 
rose from the table and stood leaning against the 
open window, lost in thought. 

When he felt a hand laid upon his arm and 
heard a voice whisper: "My brother, let us pray," 
Vivyan turned quickly. His pastor stood before 
him with such a touching expression in his counte- 
nance that, strong man as he was, he felt the tears 
rush to his eyes, for he saw in a moment that they 
had both to seek the grace that both equally needed, 
and both had to implore the gift of the Holy Spirit, 
who alone can change the unregenrated heart of 
man, and who is promised to all who seek him in 
sincerity. With this the narrative tells us they 
retired to the library for secret prayer. 

And now, He that seeth in secret in due time 
rewards them openly. 

Sabbath after Sabbath passes, and to the sur- 
prise of Rev. Langsdale's congregation, his pulpit 



406 The Words of Faith. 

was occupied by strangers. At length the day came 
when the pastor occupied his accustomed place. 
But, oh, how changed was his preaching. Not less 
learned, studied or finished than it was before, but 
now his words glowed with a holy unction and 
were full of power to convince and convert his 
hearers. The altar had been heaped with fuel and 
it needed but the divine touch to kindle it into a 
glorious revival of experimental religion. 

Now with what a realizing sense of the divine 
presence, with what intense feeling, and deep fer- 
vor did he speak of Him whom his soul loved. 
How earnestly did he invite his hearers to come 
unto him, who is the way, the truth and the life. 
His congregation marveled, and felt the deep reality 
of the change. They took knowledge of him, that 
he had been with Jesus, and when at the close he 
acknowledged to them with deep humility the 
change which his own soul had known, he earnestly 
invited them to come to the precious Saviour he 
had found. Then were his hearers moved to the 
very soul. Strong men bowed their heads and wept. 
And Vivyan, with a thankful heart, gave himself, 
soul and body, to his Redeemer's service. 

Such are the facts, recorded in this interesting 
history, but they have no connection with the Meth- 
odist societies, for they actually occurred in the 
highly aristocratic societies, in connection with the 
Church of England. 

Strive to enter in, at the straight gate, for 
many will seek and not be able. Do not be satis- 
fied with believing what you hear about Jesus, but 



The Words of Faith. 407 

accept Him as the one punished for you, and in your 
stead. To believe Jesus Christ the Son of God died, 
is nothing; but to trust in His death, for you, is 
eternal life. 

EXPLANATORY. 

P. S, — If any person who may read this manu- 
script should conclude from the arguments advanced 
that they undermine the theological foundation of 
Infantile Baptism, I desire to remind that person 
that infants, not being under the law are not subject 
or amenable to it. Therefore the law demanding re- 
pentance and faith as the indispensable presequisites 
for Christian Baptism is, in the case of infants, null 
and void; for, having never committed actual sin, 
they have nothing to repent of, and never having 
heard of Jesus Christ understandingly, they cannot 
believe in Him. For as in Adam all die, so also in 
Christ shall all be made alive, is Scripture which 
proves Infantile Justification, and this text, supple- 
mented by our Lord in these words : Except ye be 
converted, and become as little children, ye shall 
not enter into the kingdom of heaven. While these 
scriptures sustain the doctrines of Infantile Justifi- 
cation and Baptism, on the one hand, they prove on 
the other hand the necessity of- repentance and 
faith previous to baptism in the case of adults. 
Paul says : There is none righteous, no, not one 
(under the law). And if our Lord Jesus Christ 
takes a little child and presents him to His church, 
throughout all time as the standard of innocent per- 
fection unto which all should arrive before they en- 



408 The Words of Faith. 

ter the Kingdom of God, or the Visible Church, how 
dare we deny a place within the pale of that church 
to the infant itself, when Jesus declares that of such 
is the Kingdom of Heaven. 



The Words of Faith. 409 



THE ESSENCE OF TRUE CHRISTIANITY. 



The very essence of true religion consists in 
the love of God shed abroad in the heart by the 
Ghost given unto us, and this is illustrated by the 
figurative language of the Holy Spirit to the church 
at Bergamos, about the year of our Lord 96, in the 
17th verse of the 2nd chapter of Revelations. 

What St. James says in the 27th verse of the 
1st chapter of his Epistle is true, but he speaks here 
only of the outward effect of pure religion on the 
life. (See the 16th verse of this chapter.) The 
language of our text is as follows : 

To him that overcometh, will I give to eat of 
the hidden manna, and I will give him a white 
stone, and in the stone a new name written, which 
no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it. 

(Explanatory — A holy life, proceeding from a 
blessed experience of God's love shed abroad in 
the heart, or soul, are both necessary to constitute 
saving faith, and Christian security neither can be 
discarded without ruining the other.) 

He that has ears to hear, let him hear what the 
Spirit says unto the churches, for these are not the 
words of any creature, but of our glorious Creator 
and Redeemer, which He spake by His Spirit unto 
His servant John, and through him unto his ancient 
Asiatic churches, and also to all those who compose 
His church in all other ages. Therefore, let them 
sink down in your hearts, and drown all worldly 



410 The Words of Faith. 

thoughts until by the grace of God you are changed 
into a new creature in Christ Jesus ; then, and not 
till then, will you understand their true meaning. 
When you have tasted the hidden manna of God's 
love in your soul, you will know by your own hap- 
py experience what heart felt religion is, and real- 
ize the fact of God's love to you personally, in giv- 
ing His Son to die for you, upon the cross. Your 
sentiments, I presume, will agree with those ex- 
pressed in the following lines : 

When I behold my dying Lord, 

Stretched on a Roman cross for me, 

The sight doth all my thoughts absorb, 

And drowned my spirit, Lord, in Thee. 

In Thee alone is hid my life, 

My Lord, my Saviour and my God ; 

From the vain scenes of worldly strife 
For wealth, for honor, or for blood ; 

These things for me no charms possess, 
I love my dearest Saviour best. 

And by His help I will abide, 
Safe sheltered in His bleeding side, 
Till angels beckon me away 
To see His face in endless day. 

But remember, my friends, these great bless- 
ings spoken of, under the figures of the hidden 
manna, and white stone, are promised only to those 
who overcome. Our Saviour says strive to enter 



The Words of Faith. 411 

in at the strait gate. Many will seek to do it, and 
not be able. Repentance that does not lead to ref- 
ormation and victory will not enable us to overcome 
the evil one (the enemy of God and man), and en- 
title us to the promised blessing. For true repent- 
ance is the strait gate through which we must all 
pass to get into the narrow way that leads to life 
eternal. 

(Explanatory — The word strait, in the passage 
quoted, means narrow, or contracted, and is the 
same word that is applied to a narrow part of thfc 
sea, as the strait of Dover, etc., or Gibraltar, etc.) 

The enemy that opposes, us is the Devil, and 
when we consider his power, skill, cunning and in- 
defatigability we shall see the vanity and hopeless- 
ness of any attempt on our part to engage him in a 
contest unsupported by Divine help. His means of 
access to us, and methods of approaching us to 
make his insidious attacks are almost innumerable ; 
sometimes he injects his poison of unbelief in re- 
vealed religion, and the existence of God, and makes 
infidels of men; he then presents himself in the as- 
sumed but false garb of a philosophical reasoner. 
Again, he approaches mankind through the thou- 
sands of avenues furnished by the World and the 
Flesh for his use. Now what are we to do in a case 
of this kind. Answer, Do as Jacob did, when he 
was upon the point of meeting his angry brother 
Esau. (See from the 24th to the 28th verses, inclu- 
sive, of the 32nd chapter of Genesis.) He got by 
himself; sent even his family away, in order to 
spend the night in uninterrupted communion with 



412 The Woeds of Faith. 

God, pleading with Him for protection from the 
wrath of his angry brother. It was sometime in 
the darkness before morning the angel of the cove- 
nant, or the Messiah, presented himself to Jacob, 
in the form of man, and engaged him in a wrestle 
till almost daylight. Jacob saw that his case was 
hopeless, and gave up wrestling with the angel, but 
he clung to him with the utmost tenacity, and when 
the angel said, Let me go, for the day breaketh, 
Jacob replied: I will not let thee go, except thou 
bless me. And the angel gave him a new name, and 
in it the new and inestimable blessing of a new crea- 
ture, or nature, for Jacob was expelled, and Israel 
introduced into the same physical body, and he ex- 
isted no longer as a deceiver and supplanter, but as 
a Prince 'that has power with God, and obtains His 
blessing. 

Jacob had reason to shout Glory! 

This is what we must all do if we obtain the 
forgiveness of our sins, and secure eternal life. Lay 
a firm hold on God, by a humble trust in His prom- 
ise to sin-sick sinners, which promise centers in and 
is founded upon Christ vicarious death and resur- 
rection. And nothing short of a vital union with 
Him, even such a union as is implied by the pos- 
session of the hidden manna, the white stone and 
the new name, can secure us from the justice of 
God and its necessary consequence hereafter. 
Therefore, if you are really anxious to obtain this 
great blessing, plead with God for it; tell Him you 
will never let Him go, except He bless you, and 
stick to your text. If you die before you get it, let 



The Words of Faith. 413 

it be at the foot of the cross of Christ crying for 
mercy. You will never die there, for God will hon- 
or you by giving you faith to trust your case in 
your Redeemer's hands; and then, by verifying his 
promise in your experience. And this is what is 
meant by the hidden manna. 

The manna the Israelites ate in the wilderness 
was a type of Christ. (Christ says He is the bread 
of Life.) And Christ formed in the heart the hope 
of glory is the hidden manna that God proffers to 
give; it is the secret of the Lord, enjoyed only by 
them w^ho trust Him and hope in His mercy. 

Cowper said: Judge not the Lord by feeble 
sense, but trust Him for His grace. Our Lord says : 
When ye pray for a blessing believe that ye receive 
it, and ye shall have it. This is indeed plain lan- 
guage. How wicked to doubt it! 

Paul said: Whatsoever is not of faith is sin. 
And if this applies to meats and drinks, it applies 
with much greater force to God's promises in Christ. 
For if God so loved the world as to give His only 
Begotten Son to die for us, how shall He not with 
Him also freely give us all things (that he has 
promised in His Son), to-wit: Pardon, or justifi- 
cation; purification or sanctification in this life, and 
glory in life eternal hereafter. 

And the white stone means the inward, or spir- 
itual evidence of the partial and preparatory execu- 
tion of all God's promises to us in the present life; 
or, in other words, in the kingdom of grace. 

It was the custom in that country and age 
when persons formed an important contract, to be 



414 The Words of Faith. 

fully consummated at some future period, for the 
contracting parties to secure a white stone, break 
it in two pieces that would fit each other exactly, 
and each one of the two in the contract held in his 
possession his part of the stone until the bargain 
was fully consummated. This is a most beautiful 
figure of the bargain between God and the regen- 
erated child of God, at the time of his new birth 
into Christ. Therefore the Holy Ghost uses it to 
illustrate that work of grace. 

But in this stone was a new name written, 
which name was a secret between the giver and the 
receiver. This new name cannot be the name given 
at the ordinance of baptism, either by sponsers or 
the officiating minister of the Visible Church, be- 
cause it is far beyond the power of any mortal to 
give a name that contains a secret blessing, known 
only to himself and the receiver. I confess that the 
given name (not the family name), has been called 
the Christian name by all denominations except 
those who deny a place within the pale of the Visi- 
ble Church to infants. But this peculiar name of 
which our text speaks, is the secret antitype of the 
typical name Israel, which signifies one who pre- 
vails with God, and obtains His blessing. The se- 
cret part of this new name is the direct witness of 
God's Spirit, or the Holy Ghost, with our spirit, 
that we are born into Christ's spiritual church, or 
kingdom. What an inestimable blessing this new 
name is. But it is sad to think how many are 
called by the Visible Church that enter it and yet 
are not chosen by Christ to receive this name, be- 



The Words of Faith. 415 

cause they are not born again of the Spirit or Holy 
Ghost. 

Christ said that out of ten who carried the 
Lamp of Profession only five were permitted to 
partake of the marriage feast, in the Kingdom of 
Glory, because they were unprepared to meet the 
bridegroom. (Terrible, but true as the Gospel.) It 
is the light, not the lamp, that saves the soul. Think 
of this, ye careless professors ! What will you do 
when the Bridegroom comes if your light should 
be gone out, for the want of the oil of divine grace 
in your souls? It will be no use to knock when the 
door is shut against you. 

But one reason why this new name is secret 
is because the blessing contained in it is foolishness 
to all who do not either enjoy it, or believe it is ob- 
tainable. But to those wdio believe in God's prom- 
ise to give it, it is the hidden pearl of great price. 
But whatever each person's secret name may be, 
we are certain it will be an accurate delineation 
of his exact standing in the estimation of our Lord 
and Saviour Jesus Christ, and it will be the name 
inscribed in the Lamb's book of life. 

But remember, as the stars of the firmament 
differ in glory, so will the sainted spirits of the re- 
deemed differ at the resurrection of the just. 

I think it is Pope said : Order is heaven's first 
law, and this confessed, some are and must be 
greater than the rest. 

But who infers from hence 

That such are happier, 

Shocks all common sense. 



416 The Words of Faith. 

Indeed, all will be perfectly happy ; but in pro- 
portion to their capacity to receive spiritual joy; 
for as the vessel of the soul is prepared by grace to 
receive either large or small quantities of divine 
happiness, so will it be filled to the brim in the 
Kingdom of Glory. The nearer we live to Christ 
in the present life, the closer will He place our seat 
to Himself in the life to come. The more our life 
resembles His life on earth, the more we shall en- 
joy Him in heaven. 

The true disciple of Jesus Christ watches over 
his part of the white stone incessantly, lest Satan 
should succeed in robbing him of his priceless treas- 
ure in some of his insidious attacks through the 
World or the Flesh. He is found daily embracing 
every opportunity for secret communion with his 
Divine Master, and at this throne of grace he is 
constantly adding to his stock of this indispensable 
heavenly manna upon which his soul thrives and 
grows luxuriously until it bursts the walls of its 
clay tabernacle and finds a place of sweet rest in the 
regions of glory. 

Fox right well he knows his Divine Lord and 
Master safely holds His part of the White Stone, 
. and that it will fit exactly with his own part of the 
very same stone. 

Thus will the contract between God and man, 
begun in the Kingdom of Grace, be finally consum- 
mated in the Kingdom of Glory. 



The Words of aith. 417 

Pure saving faith, hath one sure mark; 

It saves the soul from sin, 
And then the mind that was so dark, 

Gets Heavenly light within. 

Never make any pretentions to religion except 
you experience it, for any religion that does not pro- 
ceed from the grace of justification through faith 
in the blood of Christ is only a profession of re- 
ligion without an experience, and such a religion 
will not justify a soul in the sight of God. If you 
enjoy the grace of justification which is a work 
wrought for you, make no pretentions to purifica- 
tion or sanctification (which means the same thing) 
until you experience the evidence of God's spirit 
bearing witness to your conscience that your out- 
ward life agrees with your profession of faith in the 
sanctifying influences of the precious blood of 
Christ to the cleansing of your soul from inbred sin, 
so that your words and actions correspond there- 
unto, being the pure streams that issue from a pure 
fountain of love springing up in the soul to God, 
which is the work of God's spirit wrought in you. 

Remember, that the profession of the religion 
of Christ, or Christianity, in either of these cases 
without experiencing what we profess, is hypocrisy, 
which may serve as a cloak to deceive man, but is 
too thin to deceive God. And do not forget the ad- 
monition of the Son of- God, which is: Be ye there- 
fore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven 
is perfect. No man can place the standard of Chris- 
tianity higher than this. You acknowledge this is 



418 The Words of Faith. 

Gospel, but say, I feel it to be too glorious for me. 
Then let us aspire toward it, and if possible attain 
unto mediocrity in the grand system of Christian- 
ity. Remember, the mariner when he wishes to 
take his exact bearings from that complex system 
known to us as the North Star, does not scrutinize 
this Celestial phenomena hoping to understand its 
deep mysteries, but to ascertain his whereabouts on 
the sea, for well he knows the storms of the ocean 
make no difference to it. So our blessed Lord sets 
his motto so high that nothing earthly can affect 
it and tells His redeemed children to be perfect, 
etc. 

Moreover, remember the admonition given to 
us by Paul : Let your moderation be known unto 
all men. If this is good advice in respect to meats 
and drinks, it is good advice in all matters relating 
to religion also. Be swift to hear, slow to speak, 
slow to wratch, etc., etc. Be sure to give way to 
no extravagances in your religious associations and 
professions, for these things throw the doors wide 
open to let in all kinds of unclean spirits into your 
churches, which work incalculable mischief in our 
Lord's vineyard. Seek to have your tempers, af- 
fections and appetites so modified by divine grace as 
always to be completely under your control. It is 
good to be zealously affected in a good cause, but 
be careful to avoid extreme heat in your zeal on the 
one hand or icy coldness' (in your apathy or uncon- 
cern) on the other hand, in public worship. I do 
not know which extreme is the worst, but I do 
know that moderation, even here, is good. 



The Words of Faith. 419 

We trust the reader will have patience for a 
short time longer to investigate, and weigh, the im- 
portance of our closing observations, which are as 
follows : 

First, that our Saviour taught us, in the 48th 
verse of the 5th chapter of Matthew that Christian 
perfection is possible in this life, and that it 
is our privilege and duty to seek for it 
and strive to experience it; and this being the case, 
which we cannot deny, proves that the doctrine of 
Christian perfection is divine in its origin and is so 
intimately connected with the divinity of Christ 
that it is impossible to separate them, for if Chris- 
tian perfection in this life is impossible, Christ must 
have made a mistake, and if so, He could be nothing 
higher than a good man, and then there would be 
no Deity, in direct connection with the great work 
of the Atonement. But the fact that God was in 
Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, forever 
prohibits the impossibility of Christian perfection 
in this life. 

But to have a clear conception of this sublime 
truth, let us remember that St. John tells us God is 
Love, and Love is one of His communicable attri- 
butes, and so is holiness ; for God said : Be ye holy, 
for I am holy; and without holiness shall no man 
see the Lord. Now these two are twin graces of the 
Holy Spirit; they are indivisible graces. You will 
find by reading verses 44, 45, 46 and 47 next before 
the text quoted in the 5th chapter of Matthew, that 
our Lord was addressing His hearers in this part of 
His Sermon on the Mount on the subject of Love, 



420 The Words of Faith. 

and that He was by no means urging them to as- 
pire for the incommunicable attributes of Deity; 
neither did he teach them to look for, or expect, an- 
gelic perfection, but simply Christian perfection of 
Love and Holiness. 

By this time you will, perhaps, feel inclined to 
say to me, Do you experience in your own soul the 
internal evidences of peace and joy arising from the 
possession of these two graces of Justification and 
Sanctification? 

To which question I reply: "By Grace I am 
what I am. I speak the truth in love when I say 
I am striving to grow up into Him in all things,, 
which is the head, even Christ. (Ephesians, 4:15.) 
As to Justification through the precious blood of 
Christ, shed for my soul's salvation, I believe in it 
with all my heart, and I neither have nor want any- 
other foundation for my hope; and I can, and do, 
enjoy the Love of God shed abroad in my heart, 
by the Holy Ghost given unto me. I need, and 
receive, from my Divine Master, my regular meals 
of spiritual food for my soul, exactly as I do my 
regular meals for the sustenance of my natural 
body, and I can say I never go to the throne of 
grace and come away without a blessing; conse- 
quently, I can say that my life (which is in a great 
measure hid with Christ, in God) is full of mer- 
cies, which have the effect of generating in my 
soul a constant outflow of Love to my Father in 
Heaven, and this is the result of my dear Saviour's 
love to me. Notwithstanding these facts, I can 
only answer the question relating to Christian Per- 



The Words of Faith. 421 

fection in the language of Paul (which see) in the 
12th, 13th and 14th verses of the 3rd chapter of 
Philippians. 

Whenever we receive the second blessing it 
comes, like the first, as a free gift of God, but 
through faith on our part, and not through our 
works, or life. But the heavenly influences which 
bring it (like the wind which bloweth where it 
listeth), may come either in gentle breezes into the 
soul, or in a sudden gust. In the former case the 
change is gradual, and almost imperceptible ; in the 
letter case suddenly, and consequently more clearly 
defined ; in each case in accordance with the recipi- 
ent's condition, and the will of God. 

An argument to prove that God cannot pos- 
sibly save a sinner in any way except by grace, 
through that sinner's faith in the atonement made 
by His only begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, 
which faith is of the operation of God. (Cols., 
2:12.) And is the result of being begotten 
again and born anew not of fleshly seed, but of in- 
corruptible seed by the word of God. 1st of Peter, 
1:3, 23 not inclusive). 

"Every kingdom divided against itself is 
brought to desolation." (The middle clause of the 
17th verse of the nth chapter of St. Luke.) It 
appears clear to my mind from the following argu- 
ments, based as they are upon the solid foundation 
of God's word, that if God recognizes any of the 
works of man, either within or outside the bounds 
of the church, as having any efficacy in connection 
with the great work of atonement, He is inconsis- 



422 The Words of Faith. 

ent with and divided against Himself, and He de- 
stroys the harmony of His own inherent attributes; 
His kingdom is divided and is brought to desola- 
tion. I admit this is a subject too deep for man 
to fathom, but if man cannot comprehend it in all 
its infinitude, yet he may contemplate it and benefit 
himself by so doing. 

The following facts prove it to be an absolute 
impossibility for God to save any sinner from sin 
and death into righteousness and life in any way 
except through faith in Christ, and Christ Himself 
says: "I am the way, the Truth and the Life. No 
man cometh unto the Father but by me." God 
cannot save a sinner except in His own way, which 
is the one and only way possible for Him to do it. 
A man can work out his own salvation; that is, he 
can secure it with fear and trembling, but his works 
add nothing to the price of his redemption. That 
price is the incarnation of the Son of God. His 
pure and holy life on earth, His blood, His suffer- 
ing and ignominious death, all crowned with the 
glorious victory of the Mighty Conqueror's resur- 
rection, who Himself volunteered to become our 
substitute and Saviour on the condition that we 
accept Him on His own terms. Consequently any 
sinner that dies without a saving faith in Christ 
goes with his guilt-stained soul into the presence 
of God. Death having put an end to his probation- 
ary state, all further hope is banished from his 
mind forever. The facts before indirectly referred 
to are these : There is one God and only one, not 
three, but He is a triune being, inhabiting eternity,. 



The Words of Faith. 423 

filling past, present and future with Himself, He 
being the God of infinite holiness, purity, truth, in- 
flexible justice, as well as infinite love, power and 
wisdom, and only one mediator between God and 
man, the man, Christ Jesus. Because in Him alone 
infinite justice and love can unite with truth and 
holiness to save the sinner that forsakes his sins, 
and by an act of implicit trust in his crucified re- 
deemer shifts the load of his sin from himself to 
his Saviour, who bore the same for him upon the 
cross. 

And "He (God) saw that there was no man 
and wondered that there was no intercessor. There- 
fore His arms brought salvation unto him, and His 
righteousness it sustained Him." Now God cannot 
possibly be inconsistent with himself, therefore he 
cannot save any sinner except through his faith in 
the atoning blood of Jesus Christ. 

The price of redemption is so high that no 
created being or beings can furnish it either in 
whole or in part, for "without the shedding of blood 
there is no remission of sin." "Sin is the transgres- 
sion of the law." And that law is perfectly wise, 
just and holy, and infinite justice demands an in- 
finitely holy substitute of priceless value to suffer 
death for the sinner, and no finite creature can fur- 
nish it. There is, therefore, no animate or inani- 
mate creature that can form any part of the sin- 
ner's substitute as a sacrifice for his sin, or be in 
any way conditional thereunto, except that crea- 
ture be enshrined with Deity itself. Hence the 
need of the incarnation of the Son of God to effect 



424 The Words of Faith. 

our redemption. There is but one Jesus Christ or 
day's man who can lay hold on God with the right 
hand of his divinity and on the sinner with the 
left hand of his humanity, and with an effort ex- 
erted in his dying agony upon the cross that dark- 
ened the son and rent the veil of the temple in 
twain can bring God and man together, reconciling 
man to God and God to man by the shedding of 
His own blood for man's sin. Man's works cannot 
have any share in the matter of the atonement. 

The sinner's faith in Christ is the only prerequi- 
site appointed by God to enable him to obtain the 
full benefit of that atonement, and faith alone forms 
the link which unites the redeemed with the Re- 
deemer. Faith in Christ is not only the one and 
only way that God can forgive actual sin, but it 
is also the very best and easiest way for a sinner 
to obtain forgiveness possible to that sinner. If 
a sinner were required to enter the church by bap- 
tism as a condition of salvation through the aton- 
ing blood of Jesus Christ, hundreds of millions 
would be forever unavoidably prevented from re- 
ceiving any benefit from this priceless work. Be- 
cause it was never possible for them to receive the 
prerequisite of Christian baptism in a case of this 
kind, a person's salvation would depend about as 
much on water and a qualified baptizer as upon Je- 
sus Christ. Thank God, this is not so. 

Faith in Jesus Christ for personal salvation is 
both the only way God can save a sinner and the 
easiest way for a sinner to be saved. Take God 
at His word and trust Him for His grace. 



The Words of Faith. 425 

It appears from St. Matthew and St. Mark that 
the last words spoken on earth by our Saviour be- 
fore His ascension were addressed to His eleven 
apostles. These are the words : "And He said unto 
them, Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel 
to every creature. He that believeth and is bap- 
tized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall 
be damned." So that we see that even his being 
baptized into the Visible Church cannot save him 
without faith in the true gospel, because without 
the faith that is of the operation of God he is cut 
off from the atonement made by Christ, who is 
the only mediator between God and man, and God 
can only save us in virtue of our union with that 
atonement. 



426 The Words of Faith. 



BAPTISM. 



On the All-Important Event of Which Baptism Is 
a Figure. 
If the word Tabal has but one meaning in the 
original Hebrew, viz., purifications from sin, and that 
word was translated into the Greek word Baptisdo, 
rendered in English Baptism, it follows that Chris- 
tian baptism, if it retains the meaning of its orig- 
inal root, is entirely a figurative ordinance, and the 
original of this figure is purification from sin. Now, 
the figure or picture of a transaction must necessa- 
rily be entirely distinct from the transaction itself. 
In this case the transaction is not effected by the 
water or the minister that baptizes, but by the ap- 
plication of the efficacy of the blood of Christ 
through the agency of the Holy Ghost, and the fig- 
ure of Christian Baptism has been appointed by 
Christ to perpetuate the memory of this all-import- 
ant transaction between God, the Holy Ghost, and 
the new-born child of God. 

But the great question with regard to baptism is 
not. Is it a figurative ordinance, for this question 
is about settled in the affirmative, except by par- 
ties who continue to preach Baptismal Regenera- 
tion. But the question now is, Of what is it a fig- 
ure? I will first endeavor to answer this question 
negatively and secondly positively. 

First. It cannot possibly be a type or figure 
of the atonement, because there are none of the em- 



The Words of Faith. 427 

blems necessary to constitute a figure of that great 
work present in baptism. The bread, the wine, the 
sacrifice and the blood are all absent. This being 
the case, baptism cannot be a figure of the sacri- 
ficial blood and death of Christ. The most that can 
be said is, immersion may be considered a figure of 
the burial and resurrection of Christ. But this 
thought conflicts with a law which is supposed to 
regulate all translators. And a figure of the burial 
and resurrection is not a figure of the blood and 
death of Christ, which is the real atonement. 

Second. I will endeavor to furnish a positive 
argument to prove that baptism is a figure, not of 
the atonement itself, but of the application of the 
atonement to the soul of man by the agency of the 
Holy Ghost. 

To be an accurate translation, a translated 
word must correspond in its meaning with its orig- 
inal root. But Baptisdo is not the original root of 
our word Baptism, because it is a translation of the 
Hebrew word Tabal, which is the acknowledged 
original root of both Baptisdo and Baptism. Now, 
Baptize is a verb, expressing the performing of an 
operation, and the operation prefigured by baptism 
is accomplished by the Holy Ghost. 

Now, therefore, Christian baptism can prefig- 
ure but one thing, and that is the operation of ap- 
plying the atonement to the human soul by the 
Holy Ghost. We learn from Romans, 6:3-4, also 
Col. 2:11-12, that the work prefigured by both cir- 
cumcision and baptism was purification from sin, 
and that it is effected by the faith which is of the 



428 The Words of Faith. 

operation of God. Also that there are divers opera- 
tions, but the same Spirit that worketh all in all, 
that is, all the gifts and graces of God are com- 
municated unto us by the same Spirit, who work- 
eth all good in us, and without His influences we 
can do nothing that will be acceptable to God. 
How necessary, then is it for us to pray for the out- 
pouring of the Spirit of God. 

Christian Baptism is a figure not of the atone- 
ment, but of the Baptism of the Holy Ghost. 

The atonement is the indispensable saving 
grace. 

Holy Ghost Baptism is the application of that 
grace to the human soul in the new birth. 

The being that begets into man's soul the first 
and second birth of the life, light, nature and image 
of God is God, therefore His work is perfect. Noth- 
ing can be taken from it or added to it without ruin- 
ing it. 

The Being that performs the figurative opera- 
tion of baptizing with or in water the body of man, 
by which he opens the door of the church to receive 
that man, is man. Therefore his work may be in 
vain. Do not get the work of God mixed up in 
your minds with the work of man, for they are sep- 
arate and distinct from each other in their nature 
and effects. The first is a saving grace, but the sec- 
ond is not, for if it was there would be no hypo- 
crits with dark lamps in the Visible Church. 

There are two thoughts suggested by the word 
Born in the 3d chapter of St. John. The first 
thought, which is the all-important one, is a com- 



The Words of Faith. 429 

plete transition into a new creature, and this 
thought includes all the circumstances that result 
in this final issue. The second thought is that of 
a change of circumstantial relations. In the 3d 
verse, which relates exclusively to the higher spirit- 
ual nature of man, we have an illustration of the 
first thought suggested by the words Born anew, 
etc., namely, that of a complete transition into a 
new creature. In the 5th verse we have an illus- 
tration of the second or less radical and important 
thought suggested by the words Born of Water, 
namely, a change of circumstantial relations affect- 
ing the entire man by the ordinance of Christian 
Baptism, which introduces him into the society of 
the Visible Church. 

Mark the difference between the word See in 
the 3rd verse and Enter into in the 5th verse. Also 
mark that to enter into the kingdom of God in its 
most comprehensive meaning, it is necessary not 
only to perceive divine life, light and truth in Christ 
and embrace them by a living faith in Him, but 
also to enter the church by baptism. If you wish 
to be identified with the sheep of Christ or his 
people in His earthly kingdom or Visible Church, 
I understand this to be the plain, the true and only 
meaning of these two verses. 

"Born again" signifies a real operation per- 
formed on the higher spiritual nature of man. This 
work is done by the Spirit (see verse 5) and it 
alone, independent of our own works, or the aid 
and assistance of any mere creature or creatures. 
And it alone connects our souls by the God-given 



430 The Words of Faith. 

faith begotten into them by* the same Spirit with 
the all efficacious blood of the atonement, and we 
are saved by it alone. 

"Born of water" signifies a real operation per- 
formed on the physical body of man in the ordi- 
nance of Christian Baptism, which ordinance was 
instituted by Christ as a figurative operation in 
connection with water to perpetuate the memory 
of the application of His efficacious blood to the 
souls of those who enter His spiritual kingdom. 
And He does this by making Baptism the door to 
the Visible Church. Therefore, salvation is not 
conditional or dependent on Baptism. First, be- 
cause it is only a figure of the saving grace of 
God, and a figure is always distinct from its orig- 
inal. Second, because Baptism cannot be performed 
without water and a baptizer. 

Furthermore, it is impossible for Baptism to 
be a figure of the atonement because none of the 
emblems necessary to constitute it a figure of this 
stupendous work are present in baptism. The 
Bread, the wine, which are the divinely appointed 
figures of the broken body and shed blood of Christ 
are both absent. But while this is so, the water 
and its application to the subject (by sprinkling, 
pouring or immersion) are emblematical of the 
work of the Holy Spirit applying the sin purifying, 
efficacious, atoning blood of Christ to the soul. 
Therefore, Baptism is not a figure of the burial 
and resurrection of Christ, except the subject is 
immersed, and therefore Baptism under all condi- 
tions of the three modes of administering it is a 



The Words of Faith. 431 

figure of the operation or work performed by the 
Holy Spirit or third person in the Trinity in ap- 
plying the efficacy of Christ's atoning blood to the 
soul. Therefore, although Baptism is not a figure 
of the atonement itself, yet it is a figure of the ap- 
plication of that atonement to the human soul by 
the Holy Ghost. 

Now, therefore, let us never forget that so far 
as we are concerned, this atoning blood of the Son 
of the Living God will be spilled in vain except it 
is applied to our guilty souls by the Holy Ghost. 

Millions are annually destitute of this saving 
grace of God, and where are they? Their condition 
w r ill find a counterpart in our own, except w r e by 
the use of the key of prayer obtain this grace from 
God's inexhaustible store of grace in Christ Jesus. 

But if we possess this treasure, bear in mind 
that this perfect work of God in the first and sec- 
ond births of divine life into man's soul is given 
to us for our use, and we are expected to watch 
over it and guard it as a priceless treasure, even 
as the "Hidden Manna, the White Stone and New 
Name." 

Now, our part as receivers of this gift is to 
see that we retain it, for it is not incapable of being 
lost, and it is liable to be lost by us* Otherwise 
we must have passed our probationary state as 
soon as we receive it. That this is not so is proved 
by the fact that it w r as lost by Adam while he was 
in a state of probation in Eden. For the fact that 
the first Adam was made a living soul, and the 
second Adam was (by his own inherent right) a 



432 The Words of Faith. 

quickening spirit makes no difference in the nature 
of this divine gift. It is the same in both first and 
second infusions. 

(Note — There is nothing in the original for 
"was made" before a quickening spirit. It is bet- 
ter to leave the words out and use "is" in their 
place.) 



Promiscuous thoughts that occur to the mind 
while reading the first and second chapters of St. 
Paul's second epistle to the Thessalonians. 

St. Paul was undoubtedly richly endowed with 
the special gift of discerning spirits and his prophet- 
ic eye discovered these evil agencies at work se- 
cretly in the infant church at Thessalonica, and 
therefore was well qualified to make these predic- 
tions contained in these chapters. 

The epistles to the Thessalonians appear to 
have been written either in Athens or Corinth, and 
were both sent to a Christian church in Greece, 
which church was no sooner planted than the en- 
emy began sowing tares among the wheat. These 
Judaizing teachers taught things quite inconsistent 
with evangelical truth and calculated to degrade 
Christianity and greatly to retard its progress by 
loading it down with the ceremonial rites of the 
Mosaic law. 

But the principal trouble appears to have been 
in this case the teaching of these Jewish professors 
of Christianity that the second coming of Christ 
was at hand. Now, the city of Thessalonia was the 



The Words of Faith. 433 

native and adopted home of many Jews, as well as 
Gentiles, and Paul, as his custom was, first preached 
the gospel to these Jews, a very few of whom only 
were converted by it, and doubtless some of these 
clung still to the rites and ceremonies of the Mosaic 
law, holding that faith in Christ to be effectual 
must be loaded with these burdensome rites, and 
that the letter of the law had to be strictly ob- 
served. Paul's success in preaching to the Gentiles 
excited both their jealousy and their envy, and 
finally transformed them into the most dangerous 
enemies of the infant churches of that day. Nor 
is the church free from these Judaizing teachers in 
the present day, for unclean spirits have long lives. 
Paul wrote these epistles nearly 1900 years 
ago, but they are still troubling the churches. We 
infer from Acts xx:i~3 that Paul visited this church 
twice, but there is nothing more about it in scrip- 
ture except what we find in this second epistle and 
in the first three verses of the 1st chapter of the 
Apostles after his usual salutation, congratulates 
them on the strength and growth of their faith, not- 
withstanding the persecutions and tribulations 
which they had to endure for the kingdom of God's 
sake. Verse 6th, God will recompense tribulation 
to them that trouble his people. (But the parties 
engaged in this unholy work do not consider this.) 
And it is stated about this time the Jews raised a 
tumult and numbers of them were slain, verse 7. 
"The same God who will avenge you of all your 
adversaries will give you sweet rest." The very 
same countenance that strikes terror and dismay 



434 The Words of Faith. 

into the persecutors of the church will diffuse joy 
and gladness into the hearts of the persecuted. 
Jesus will be to the Christian a very present help 
in times of extreme trouble, no matter when those 
times are or what may be their nature. The im- 
pression appears to have been made upon these 
people that they were about to be visited with sore 
distresses, and that the Lord Jesus would be re- 
vealed from Heaven at the occurrence of some great 
calamity of a temporal nature, which may include 
their death. Jesus Christ will come to meet us in 
death and come again at the general judgment; also 
at the resurrection of the martyrs before this last 
coming. But in all these comings the faithful Chris- 
tian has nothing to fear. The rest here spoken of 
may include a relaxation of these persecutions in 
the present life and imply the restful state of the 
church when the power and influences of the man 
of sin are removed in the Millennium. 

Verse 8. We understand the figure of the flam- 
ing fire to indicate the severity of the punishment 
of their enemies ; also of the punishment of the ob- 
stinate unbeliever in Christ in spite of the bright 
displays of heavenly light emanating from His glo- 
rious presence during the Millennium period after 
His second advent. 

Verses 9 and io teach us that at the end of a 
terrible existence in this world they shall be pun- 
ished with everlasting destruction or banishment 
from the presence of the Lord (but not with annihi- 
lation) when He shall come to receive His saints 
and reward them with the fullness of that eternal 



The Words of Faith, 435 

life which they embraced when they first trusted 
in Him. 

Verses n and 12 contain Paul's prayer to God 
to make these Christians meet to inherit the glory 
to which He had called them, so that the great de- 
sign of their calling may be accomplished by our 
Lord Jesus Christ being glorified in His church 
and His church in Him. 

The second chapter. Verses 1st and 2nd con- 
tain an exhortation and a caution. The former 
founded upon the certainty of Christ's second com- 
ing and of ovs being gathered unto Him at death ; 
also of His coming to give His church rest, and to 
punish His enemies when the proper time comes for 
Him to expel the corrupting spirits of anti-Christ 
from the Visible Church, to dethrone the Man of 
Sin and thus to purify unto Himself a peculiar 
church, zealous of good works. And also of our 
Lord's coming at the last day to judge the world. 
The caution is not to think that this last coming 
of Christ, either at the Millennium or at the Judg- 
ment Day, is at hand (because great changes have 
to take place first) and not to be misled by any- 
thing that he had said in his first letter to them, 
or by what he had told them by word of mouth 
that the day of Christ's coming either at the Mil- 
lennium or at the general judgment was at hand. 

Verse 3d. There must come a falling away in 
the church occasioned by the open manifestation 
of the Man of Sin before the coming of Christ. 
""When therefore ye see these things come to pass, 
(to-wit the rise, reign and utter destruction of this 



436 The Words of Faith. 

apostate church) then know ye that the second 
coming of Christ is at hand." It was very import- 
ant that this infant church should not mistake Paul 
in this matter, for it would have perhaps destroyed 
their faith in Christ. He therefore gives them this 
sign which is contained in the latter part of verse 
3d and in the 4th verse, which relates to the reve- 
lation of the Man of Sin, who exalteth himself 
above all that is called God, etc., etc., and sitteth 
in the temple or the church of God, showing him- 
self that he is God, and by these means the whole 
Visible Church of the day, that is, the (R. C.) 
church would be seduced from the worship of the 
true God, and the day of Christ shall not come until 
after this sign be fulfilled. Now, the great question 
is, Who or what does this Man of Sin mean? Or 
who are the heads of this apostasy? For it is evi- 
dent that the apostate church is a professedly Chris- 
tian church, and it is also evidently the church 
that forbids its ministers to marry, and commands 
its members to abstain from meats is that church. 
This is the Roman Catholic Church, and its only 
visible head is the Pope. (See Tim. 1 14,3. Also 
Rev. xiii :$-6, to the end of the chapter.) And the 
prophet Daniel says, 7th chapter, 25th verse : "And 
he shall speak great words against the Most High, 
and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and 
think to change times and laws, and they shall be 
given into his hand unto a 'time and times and the 
dividing of time," or 1260 Jewish years of 360 days 
each. St. Paul being perhaps guided by Daniel and 
greatly aided by his special gift of discerning spir- 



The Words of Faith. 437 

its, could make these predictions in absolute cer- 
tainty that they would be fulfilled in their proper 
season. But it is impossible to predict the exact 
time, for as our Lord once told the Pharisees, the 
kingdom of God cometh not with observation, for 
It is within you, working its way to the front in 
secret. But the small still voice of God is frequent- 
ly preceded by terrific storms, and these should 
serve as signs of His near approach. 

Now, the rise and the fall of this apostasy is 
slow, and sometimes, on account of habit, almost 
imperceptible, although always in a progressive 
state. Therefore the 1260 years may not apply to 
either its rise or decline, but only to the time she 
reigned in the pride of her glory. Let those who 
can search the ancient records of church history 
do so, and determine if they can when this church 
that includes in her ecclesiastical law the signs of 
forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain 
from meats. I say determine when this church 
arrived at the zenith of her power, and we think 
it highly probable that if they begin counting the 
1260 years from that period they will arrive at the 
period when her decline in power became most 
marked, which decline is now (1900) in a very ad- 
vanced state. But when these unclean spirits 
(which have obtained such complete control of the 
conscience of millions of the human family) shall 
he completely purged out of the church is awaiting 
the time when our Lord shall make the place of 
His feet glorious. 

The "Man of Sin" evidently includes a sue- 



438 The Words of Faith. 

cession of men holding the same office, that is, as 
the visible head of the apostate church. The term 
Beast in Daniel or Revelations often represents an 
empire or kingdom. A woman clothed with the 
sun means the true church of Christ, and a woman 
arrayed in purple and scarlet (which are the em- 
blems of wealth and cruelty) means the apostate 
church. Not the great red dragon or old Roman 
empire which persecuted the church before the 
time of the purple clad woman. This hypothesis 
is certainly indicated by the similitude of the two 
figures employed, both applying to a church. See 
Rev. 16:13. The three unclean spirits that came 
out of the mouth of the dragon, the beast and the 
false prophet are not only terrible for their unclean 
and persecuting nature, but they are exceedingly 
long lived, and still maintain the same froglike 
characteristics wherever the church derives its sup- 
port from the state. This last named fact opens 
the door to let these spirits into the church, and 
you may be sure they embrace the opportunity to 
use the state's influence and funds to propagate 
and enforce their pernicious and ruinous doctrines. 
But these spirits can and do exist independently 
of this froglike characteristic, and will trouble the 
church at least until the time when our Lord com- 
pletes His work of making the place of His feet 
glorious. 

St. Paul's prophetic eye discovered this unholy 
leaven working in his day in the world and in the 
church. But he knew that it would be "let or hin- 
dered from developing in the curch by the jealousy 



The Words of Faith. 439 

of the Roman empire until that great red dragon 
was taken out of the way, and sure enough these 
restraining influences were no sooner removed than 
these spirits began to show themselves without 
either fear or shame, and the Man of Sin was re- 
vealed. These things Paul had told them by word 
of mouth. Also those contained in the next five 
verses of this second chapter. We are inclined to 
believe the words "in his time," at the close of the 
6th verse, implies that there was a reason why God 
permitted these spirits to work in secret until they 
arrived at a predetermined point for development. 
Xow, it is impossible to say what God's rea- 
sons really were, but it may be it was to show us 
how sinful and ruinous it is to admit anything into 
our religious faith not of divine origin, and also 
to show us that one error of skepticism in regard 
to the word of God may lead us to credulity, super- 
stition and idolatry, and according to verse n, this 
seems to be the chief reason there is no doubt but 
skepticism, or doubt, which is the first step in skep- 
ticism, led to the fall of Adam. It made a hole in 
his faith in God and Satan embraced this opportu- 
nity of poking his poison of credulity into his faith, 
for Satan never could have entered man while God 
lived and reigned in his soul. But as soon as God 
had vacated it Satan took possession. The result 
was the loss of faith in God, and the belief of Sat- 
an's lies were synonymous events in point of time. 
Man believed the Devil as soon as he lost faith in 
God and he ate the forbidden fruit, and his Godlike 
nature died in his soul according to God's word. 



440 The Words of Faith. 

Remember, there is a mystery in iniquity as 
well as in Godliness, but the time will come when 
both shall be revealed by the light of the Sun of 
Highteousness. 

But to return to our subject. There may be 
a second reason why God permitted these spirits 
to work in secret so long and finally to get so firm 
a hold in the church. It may be to teach the church 
in all future ages the danger and sinfulness of 
ascribing to its ministers that praise which belongs 
only to God, who is the sole author of all good, 
the preachers of the gospel being only some of the 
tools which He uses in His great and good work. 
No doubt but this spirit in the church led to saint 
and angel worship. However, the leaven was fer- 
menting, but had not infected the whole church at 
the time when St. Paul wrote this letter. The false 
teachers were at work. In Acts 20 129, Paul predicts 
that grievous wolves would enter the church, not 
sparing the flock. Shortly after this they appeared 
in Phrigia, earnestly recommending saint and angel 
worship. 

The early Christian fathers understood the 
power that held the "man of sin" back from dis- 
playing himself to be the Roman empire or em- 
perors. Turtulian says we do well to pray for the 
continuance of the empire to hold in check the ty- 
rannical power that threatens the church. 

Verse 8 shows that when this pressure is re- 
moved the heinous nature of the Man of Sin shall 
be revealed by his work, and in due time, but not 
before that time, he shall be consumed by the spirit 



The Words of Faith. 441 

of our Lord's mouth (the preached gospel) or by 
the brightness of His coming (either at or before 
the Millennium), 'that is, they shall be converted to 
the true faith or removed out of the world. 

Verses 9, 10 and 11. As to the officials and 
heads of this apostasy, in particular, who received 
not the truth, but propagated a falsehood to serve 
their own impure and avaricious purposes, God 
sends them a strong delusion, so that they shall 
actually believe their own lie to the end that they 
might all be damned who believed not the truth 
and regulated their lives by this saving faith. This 
brings us to the end of the 12th verse. 

In the following five verses of this chapter 
Paul assures the church that he is deeply interested 
in their welfare and remembers them before God iri 
his prayers, because God, who had called them by 
His gospel, had also chosen them. Because thus far 
they had been faithful to the grace given, he there- 
fore exhorts them to be faithful unto the end, and 
hold fast the traditions or teaching which they had 
received, either by his letters or words of mouth. 

There is one thing yet that I would like to w r rite 
a litle about in connection with this subject relat- 
ing to the second coming of Christ. His first com- 
ing was at His incarnation' to redeem man. His 
coming to meet us individually at death is not to 
be understood as the second coming referred to in 
the text. Nor do we think it means His corrnng in 
the end of the world to the general judgment. But 
it appears to me that the second coming here re- 
ferred to was either at the destruction of the Jewish 



442 The Words of Faith. 

nation by the Roman army, or at the commence- 
ment of the Millennium. Probably both, for time in 
prophesy, like space in astronomy, is frequently lost 
sight of. We think His second advent will be when 
He comes to be glorified in His saints, or to make 
the place of His feet or Visible Church on earth 
glorious in holiness. It appears from nth verse 
of the ist chapter and the 6th and 7th verses of 
the 2nd chapter that Paul had heard of the Judaiz- 
ing teachers that troubled the church, desiring to 
be teachers of the law and that they, like our Ad- 
ventists, insisted upon the necessity of adhering to 
the letter of the law rather than its spiritual mean- 
ing — I mean they insisted on clinging to the type, 
now that the antitype has arrived, instead of giv- 
ing up the former and embracing the latter. And 
also that they, like the Adventists, were assiduously 
engaged in enforcing their erroneous doctrine; that 
they, even then, were on the very verge of Christ's 
second advent. Now, it is very easy for us in our 
day to see the folly of such a course of conduct as 
this ; also to see the fallacy of the teachings of the 
Adventists in respect to this subject. But it would 
be equal folly in us to go to the other extreme by 
rejecting from our faith the doctrine of Christ's 
second coming at the resurrection of the martyrs, 
or at the commencement of the Millennium, a doc- 
trine so clearly taught in the word of God. It is 
not without a just reason that we confidently ex- 
pect Christ to pay His church on earth a special 
visit long before the end of the world. The 6th 
of Revelations and 9th verse. "I saw under the al- 



The Words of Faith. 443 

tar the souls of them that were beheaded for the 
witness of Jesus. And when they inquired how 
long before God would avenge them, they were 
told that they should rest for a little season, until 
the number of their brethren who would be killed 
as they had been should be fulfilled." But the rest 
of the dead were not to live again for iooo years 
after this event (see Rev. 20:5), when Satan should 
be loosed for a short time and deceive the nations 
of the earth again. This is not a dark figure of 
spiritual truth, but a prophetic assertion that these 
things shall actually take place in their proper sea- 
son. Now, the work of prosecution has been going 
on from that time until now, but with greater de- 
grees of severity at intervals. Many suffered mar- 
tyrdom in Turkey who were undoubtedly Chris- 
tians and elsewhere in the present century, and 
many more will in the coming century, but if I 
mistake not, the next ten centuries succeeding this 
coming century will not be stained with the blood 
of martyrs, for then the last martyrs will have 
joined the company of those under the altar, when, 
acording to prophesy, all this mighty army of mar- 
tyrs shall be raised from the dead and these im- 
mortal glorious bodies in union with their own 
souls that were under the altar shall live and reign 
with Christ one thousand years in His church on 
earth as a compensation for the shortening of their 
lives for His sake. This thousand years is what 
we understand by the Millennium. All this must 
necessarily precede the general judgment. And 
there will be no hypocrits in the church then, for 



444 The Words of Faith. 

the Lord shall consume them with the spirit of His 
mouth or destroy them by the brightness of His 
coming. 



The word Christian is a generic word, com- 
mon to all true believers in Jesus Christ as the 
promised Messiah, the Son of God, the second per- 
son in the holy Trinity, the Redeemer of Man, the 
sole source and fountain of eternal life. And every 
person who has this faith in Him and trusts Jesus 
Christ alone for pardon and his own personal sal- 
vation, living a life of conformity with his faith, 
and the teaching of the word of God to the extent 
of his ability has a right to the name of Christian, 
no matter if he is found either inside or outside 
the pale of any Visible Church of professing Chris- 
tians. This is a fact so firmly established upon the 
immutable rock of God's word that no man or so- 
ciety of professing Christians can detach it from 
its anchorage. This being the case, Christian is 
not a sectarian name, and no denomination of Chris- 
tians will ever be acknowledged by those not be- 
longing to their sect or denomination to have, the 
exclusive right to the name of the Christian Church. 
Do you say why not? I answer: Because of the 
inference entailed by such an acknowledgment, 
• which is this : Any person to be a Christian must 
belong to that peculiar denomination which call 
themselves the Christian church, embrace their 
faith in all its technicalities and be immersed by 
one of their church officials in water baptism. This 



The Words of Faith. 445 

will make you a Christian, and nothing else. So 
then, no man is a Christian outside the self-styled 
Christian church. Therefore, the name Campbellite 
will stick just as Methodist, which name was given 
in Oxford to a little band of Christians under the 
temporal guidance of the Wesleys, and Methodists 
was a nickname put upon the band by the students 
of the college, and it stuck, just as Campbellite will. 

There is no affinity between true Christianity 
and this world, or, in other words, between prac- 
tical Godliness and worldly mindedness. Therefore 
those who adhere exclusively to practical Chris- 
tianity need not expect the world to reward them 
with its dollars and cents, except it thinks that by 
so doing it can advance its own financial interests. 
Nevertheless, they need not fear losing their re- 
ward, both in this world and that which is to come. 
"But Godliness is profitable unto all things, having 
promise of the life that now is, and of that which 
is to come." This reward, however, will consist 
of that indescribable, but pure and imperishable 
wealth, which cannot fail to bring with it true joy 
and happiness, it being laid up in our Redeemer's 
kingdom by Himself for His chosen few out of the 
vast mass of all men which He drew unto Him 
when He was lifted up, "And I, if I be lifted up, will 
draw all men unto me." 

The foregoing are the reasons that have in- 
duced me towrite what I have written in prose and 
poetry on these subjects. 

Translating the Hebrew word Tabal into the 
Greek word Baptisdo, and curtailing the meaning 



346 The Words of Faith. 

of the Greek word Annoothan by rendering it in 
English, Again, instead of Again from above, have 
made the doctrine of the New Birth hard to un- 
derstand if we confine ourselves to the English 
language. Because there was no Greek word that 
would express the meaning of the Hebrew Tabal, 
which means to cleanse from sin, the Greek word 
Baptisdo is used for that purpose, which means 
to cleanse from filth, either with or in water, there- 
fore Christ uses the word Birth to express the rela- 
tive and radical changes wrought by water baptism 
and Holy Ghost baptism in man's corporal and spir- 
itual being, that is to say, in his body, soul and 
spirit, because the word Birth expresses His mean- 
ing far better than the word Baptisdo in both cases. 
To be born again means to be born from above, 
and therefore can have no connection with our nat- 
ural birth because that is of the flesh. But this 
birth from above must be second to the birth of 
man's soul when God breathed into his nostrils the 
breath of life and he became a living soul. As the 
natural birth produces a new creature in the like- 
ness of its father, even so the birth of the Spirit 
produces a new creature in the likeness of its spirit- 
ual parent. To breathe the air of the locality where 
he or she is born, be it either pure or impure, and 
to eat and drink food suitable for it in all stages of 
its existence, even so the water birth of baptism 
ushers a person into the Visible Church to be cared 
for and provided for by that church. The change, 
however, is not the change in the creature, but in 
the relations of the creature. How important then 



The Words of Faith. 447 

that the spiritual atmosphere and food be pure, gen- 
uine gospel truth in the visible church. All infants 
are included in the kingdom of God, when born, 
and therefore have a right to be in the Visible 
Church, for they, being without law, are not amena- 
ble to law, which requires faith. 



448 The Wokds of Faith. 



ON THE DOCTRINE OF CHRISTIAN PER- 
FECTION. 



"Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father 
which is in heaven is perfect." 

That this doctrine can be sustained by scrip- 
ture, or it cannot, is a self-evident fact. If it cannot, 
what meaning can there be to our Lord's admoni- 
tion to His disciples : "Be ye therefore perfect, even 
as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect"? 
Again, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall 
see God." Remember the verb, to be, in both cases 
is in the present tense, and has no reference to the 
future, showing that it is a state attainable in this 
life (but how?), and yet admit the consistency of 
other apparently contradictory passages, such as, 
"If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves," 
etc. This is a defficult question, but Jesus answers 
it for us in these words : "He that is washed needeth 
not, save to wash his feet," but is clean every whit, 
and, "Ye are clean, but not all," referring to Judas. 
Christ evidently meant the washing of regen- 
eration, the purifying influences of which the eleven 
disciples still retained, but w r hich Judas had lost 
(if, indeed, he ever had it). And that in their con- 
dition they needed only to live in the constant ex- 
ercise of that faith which the Holy Ghost had al- 
ready given, and" by which a channel would be 
kept continually open, and a stream of the life- 
giving and purifying influences of the same spirit 



The Words of Faith. 449 

be kept constantly flowing through the soul and 
cleansing it from "all sin." This is the way in 
which I understand the scriptures to teach the 
doctrine of Christian Perfection. I never under- 
stood it to mean angelic perfection, nor did Mr. 
Wesley, either, but I make these remarks in my 
own simple language and ideas. 



450 The Words of Faith. 



REGENERATION. 



The expression, Born either of the flesh or of 
the spirit, involves the idea of its necessary antece- 
dent, Begotten. Hence the words, "Hath begotten 
us again/' in the ist of Peter, 1:3; also Matthew, 
19:28, "Verily I say unto you, that ye that have 
followed me in the regeneration, when the Son of 
Man shall sit in the throne of His glory, ye also 
shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve 
tribes of Israel. " The true meaning of the words, 
Born of water, is determined by the nature of that 
part of the kingdom of God into which persons are 
introduced by the water birth in the ordinance of 
Baptism, which is always the Visible Church, but 
not always the spiritual kingdom. By the fore- 
going arguments we see plainly that regeneration is 
indispensably necessary to salvation and this can- 
not be accomplished by the ordinance of Baptism 
into the Visible Church. Notwithstanding, it is 
the proper place for all true Christians, but the 
more unregenerated persons get into it, the more 
its efforts to rise in the majesty and spirituality of 
Christ will be weakened and the evangelization of 
the world postponed. I suppose if there had been 
no unregenerated persons (or, as the Greek renders 
it, persons not born again from above) in the church 
since the time of Christ, the world would now be 
rejoicing under the influences of a true Christianity. 
We futhermore see that the births of the spirit, of 



The Words of Faith. 451 

the flesh and of water are three distinct experiences, 
and that the water birth cannot be the spiritual 
birth or the fleshly birth, because it lacks the nec- 
essary prerequisite of being begotten into the sub- 
ject of Baptism, as is the spiritual and fleshly na- 
tures into those who experience these changes. 



452 The Words of Faith. 



GOD AS THE ETERNAL SOURCE OF SPIR- 
IT LIFE. 



Is revealed unto man by Himself, through His 
living word, which was made flesh and dwelt among 
us. Consists of the one and only eternal trinity of 
three inseparable, but distinct, persons in the God- 
head. The first person being the eternal fountain 
of the Godhead, the presiding person in Deity, is 
therefore called the Father. The second person is 
the omnipotent arm or creating power of the eter- 
nal Father, His living incarnate word. As the hu- 
man arm is the acting member of the physical body, 
and this second person therefore was the Creator 
(long before He became incarnate) of all things 
visible and invisible, corporal and spiritual, not ex- 
cepting lost spirits whom He created holy angels, 
but placed them, like man, in a state of probation, 
He is also our Redeemer, and will be the final judge 
of men and angels, quick and dead. This glorious 
person humbled Himself in the incarnation to save 
man, and He makes this grand display of His love 
to be in perfect accord with the inflexible justice of 
the Triune Deity. 

The third person of the Eternal Trinity, or 
Holy Ghost, is represented as proceeding from the 
Father and the Son, and is therefore very God 
with them. From the concise history of creation 
it appears that He is as deeply interested in Man 
as the Father and the Son. Indeed, it is impossible 



The Words of Faith. 453 

for Him not to be, for He invested man with spirit- 
ual life when He became a living soul, and He still 
continues to make intercession for him with groan- 
ings that cannot be uttered. 

The distinct personality of the Holy Ghost is 
fully established in the 7th verse of the 16th chap- 
ter of St. John's gospel. Here our Lord tells His 
disciples if He did not leave them the Comforter 
would not come unto them. Nor can any man's 
salvation be fully consummated without His in- 
fluences, which alone can effectively convince of 
sin, so as to lead to genuine repentance. He only 
can apply the efficacy of the atoning blood of Jesus 
Christ to the guilty human soul and thus beget into 
it the life of God. This, and this only, is the new 
or second birth. 

October 15, 1901. 



454 The Words of Faith. 



QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ON THE NEW 
BIRTH. 



Question : What did our Lord mean when He 
said: "Except a man be born of water and of the 
Spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God?" 

Answer: He meant exactly what He said, 
that is, experiences both these changes, he cannot 
enter the kingdom of God. But man in his proba- 
tionary state is a compound being, consisting of a 
corporal and spiritual nature, and the birth of wa- 
ter or Christian baptism is for the corporal man, 
introducing the persons who experience it into the 
society of the Visible Church, which is included 
in God's earthly kingdom, and baptism is the di- 
vinely appointed ordinance for this purpose. But 
the birth of the Spirit is the complete regenera- 
tion of the Son of God's light and life into man's 
spiritual dark and dead soul, which can only be ac- 
complished by the begetting influences of the Holy 
Ghost. 

Question: But is not the water birth included 
in man's natural birth? 

Answer: It is impossible, for the water birth 
and the spiritual birth are both changes that must 
take place in the experience of a person already 
born of the flesh into this world. Hence Our Lord 
corrected Nicodemus' mistake by saying: "That 
which is born of the flesh is flesh." 

Question : Does not the water birth of Chris- 



The Words of Faith. 455 

tian baptism include this great renewing work of 
the Holy Ghost? Also, if it be performed in an 
orthodox manner? 

Answer: Christian baptism applied to the 
body is the divinely appointed figure of the cleans- 
ing influence of the atoning blood of Jesus Christ 
when applied to the soul by the Holy Ghos't, but it 
is not a figure of the atonement itself, because the 
emblems of the biro^n body and blood of Jesus 
Christ are both abseut in baptism. For this reason 
the answer to this last question is because it is a fig- 
ure of the effect of the spirit's influences, it is not, 
and cannot be under any circumstances the work it- 
self; but it depends on the condition of the subject 
of baptism, and the nature of his faith, whether or 
no the divine influences accompany the ordinance of 
Baptism. Repent, therefore, and be converted when 
the times of refreshing shall come from the pres- 
ence of the Lord. 



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